Noumea, New Caledonia - Pacific Islands development has received a boost from New Zealand, with a new funding commitment to the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) to strengthen its work in three vital thematic areas.
New Zealands Consul General in New Caledonia, H.E. Justin Fepuleai, and the Director-General of SPC, Dr Colin Tukuitonga, have signed an agreement to extend New Zealands funding to SPCs agriculture, public health and geoscience services programmes for a further two years, totalling NZD 4,430,000.
Todays announcement brings New Zealands total core and programme funding for SPC, for the period 2014 to 2016, to NZD 18.3 million which also includes existing support for SPCs work in sustainable management of oceanic and coastal fisheries, and strengthening Pacific Island national statistics systems, Consul General Fepuleai said.
Dr Tukuitonga welcomed the funding extension for SPCs programmes during a ceremony at SPCs headquarters in Noumea.
The move from annual to more flexible and predictable funding enables our scientists and other technical experts to plan work with countries in a more strategic way, and to respond effectively to the most important challenges and opportunities facing SPCs Pacific Island members.
New Zealand is one of SPCs founding members and has been a constant supporter of our work in the Pacific for more than 65 years, contributing to making a real difference in peoples lives, the Director-General said.
For example, in the past 10 days, New Zealand Aid Programme support has enabled SPCs world-class Geoscience Division to set up a Cyclone Pam Spatial Data Resources portal which contains detailed analyses of satellite images of affected areas and other spatial data resources to assist humanitarian efforts.
New Zealand and SPC signed a 10-year strategic partnership arrangement in December 2014, which broadened the relationship to enhance opportunities for more strategic collaboration to address development priorities in the Pacific region.
SPC is the principal technical and scientific organisation supporting development priorities in the Pacific region. It has 26 members, including all 22 Pacific Island countries and territories, as well as Australia, France, New Zealand and the USA.
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