Pacific Partnerships for Development

The Australian Government is committed to a new and elevated engagement with our Pacific island partners. A central element of the Prime Minister's Port Moresby Declaration of 6 March 2008 is the intention to pursue 'Pacific Partnerships for Development' with Pacific island countries.

Pacific Partnerships for Development commit Australia and our Pacific partners to work together to meet our common challenges, raise the standard of living for people throughout the region, and in particular to make more rapid progress towards our partners achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and their own development ambitions. In this context, the Port Moresby Declaration suggests a wide range of possible inclusions within Partnerships, including measures aimed at:

improving economic infrastructure and enhancing local employment possibilities through infrastructure and broad-based economic growth;
enhancing private sector development, including better access to microfinance;
achieving quality universal basic education;
improving health outcomes through better access to basic health services; and
enhancing governance, including the role of civil society, and the role of non-government organisations in basic service delivery.

Pacific Partnerships for Development will be established jointly by bilateral less-than-treaty level arrangements known as Partnership Frameworks.

The fundamental principles underlying Pacific Partnerships for Development are mutual respect and mutual responsibility. The Partnerships will give effect to these principles in the following ways:

Mutual respect: the Partnerships take country ownership seriously. Australia acknowledges and respects the independence of our Pacific neighbours and leadership of their own national development plans. Australia and partners will also acknowledge accountability to our respective Parliaments for the impact and effective use of development assistance.

Mutual responsibility: the Partnerships will be explicitly based on mutual, long-term and measurable commitments for development results. Australia will commit to provide new and additional bilateral assistance over time in return for commitments by Pacific partners to improve governance, enhance private sector development, increase investment in economic infrastructure, and achieve better outcomes in health and education and in other areas. Jointly, we will assess progress towards development outcomes and hold each other accountable for the commitments we make in the Partnerships. All commitments made by Pacific partners will be jointly identified and agreed, drawing directly from partners' own national development plans and aspirations.

Australia believes these principles will reinforce both partner country leadership of development policy and effective development efforts and the maintenance of genuine and practical development partnerships with Australia.

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August 2008