Private Sector Development
The role of the Private Sector Development Unit (PSDU) of the Economic Governance Programme is to provide relevant high quality policy advice and technical support to the FIC government agencies that are responsible for private sector development.
The first Forum Economic Ministers Meeting (FEMM) in 1997 recognised that Private Sector Development (PSD) is central to ensuring sustained economic growth and that governments should provide a policy environment to encourage this. In subsequent meetings of the Forum Economic Ministers they reaffirmed the importance of consulting with the private sector when formulating economic policy and development strategies in order to enhance the effectiveness of policy, and directed the Forum Secretariat to continue to explore mechanisms for extending these to the regional level.
The fundamental issue is how to improve overall economic efficiency, so that the FICs can keep its place in an increasingly competitive world market, whether in traditional or newly identified areas. Given the urgent need for a paradigm shift in the manufacturing sector, the policies and institutions need to be focused on the utilisation of, and value adding to domestic raw materials. A special emphasis is made on creating and enhancing backward and forward linkages with other sectors of the economy particularly the Tourism, Marine and Agriculture sectors.
The PSD work programme of the Forum Secretariat is implemented by the PSDU and aims to build a vibrant, cohesive, sustainable and competitive private sector in the region through appropriate government policies, programmes and activities. These can be accomplished through the promotion of domestic entrepreneurship, attracting foreign investment, investing in human resources to strengthen their productive capabilities, enhancing existing products and developing new products to increase the level of competitiveness of the FICs. In implementing the work programme, the Secretariat liaises closely with the Forum Trade Offices in Sydney, Auckland, Tokyo and Sydney, Beijing and Tokyo.
A key achievement of the programme in the region has been the establishment of the Pacific Islands Private Sector Organisation (PIPSO) in 2005 to represent the private sector at regional-level, public-private dialogues as well as to help build the capacity of national private sector organizations and strengthen their role during in-country consultative processes. The Forum Secretariat, through the PSDU, has been a major supporter of this initiative and works closely with PIPSO to promote private sector development.
The pursuit of private sector development is a means to better meet the development needs and income generating opportunities and quality of life of the people of the Pacific.
Investment
The Forum Secretariat provides investment policy advice and assistance to member countries. This focuses on:
• improvement to the investment environment for both domestic and foreign investors;
• the development of appropriate foreign investment legislation and procedures;
• investment promotion.
An important initiative in providing this assistance is the Investment Policy Support Programme (IPSP) which is assisting investment agencies in FICs to prepare and implement their own Investment Action Plans (IAPs).
