Photo: Facebook / PACER Plus
The Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER) Plus will be renewed for another five years, after a meeting of ministers in the Solomon Islands last weekend.
The agreement, which turned five years old this year, commits its 10 members to reducing tariffs and trade restrictions over the next two decades, all the while guaranteeing foreign investment from Australia and New Zealand.
After the meeting, the two developed nations jointly committed an additional US$20 million to the agreement, mostly to support foreign investment in commercial activities.
Commerce Minister Scott Simpson, representing Aotearoa at the meeting, told RNZ Pacific it reflects their belief in the deal's potential.
"The sense I got from my time in the Solomons was that those Pacific nations that are trading directly with Australia and New Zealand are benefiting in a tangible, real way that boosts those local economies," he said.
"I think that's a good thing."
But not all of the Pacific are convinced, with Papua New Guinea refusing to sign up, and Fiji holding out indefinitely.
And with China laying down economic commitments of its own, Simpson acknowledged that ministers' minds could
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