French Pacific News In Brief

Friday, 22 November 2024, 9:21 pm
Article: RNZ

Patrick Decloitre, Correspondent French Pacific Desk

New Caledonia's credit line increased

New Caledonia's borrowing facilities, as part of its government post-riot construction plan, have been further increased to a ceiling of over US$1 billion.

The new figure refers to the level of French State guaranteed loans with public financing institutions (mainly the Agence Française de Développement, AFD), French Prime Minister Michel Barnier announced, following a meeting in Paris with a New Caledonian delegation led by its President Louis Mapou.

French minister for Overseas, François-Noël Buffet, speaking on Tuesday before the French Senate's Law Committee, said the new ceiling would "allow (New Caledonia) to move forward".

Mapou said after the meeting: "This is up to what we had requested".

The new credit buoy was mainly aimed at keeping public, essential and social services functioning.

Mapou is this week in Paris to plead for his "salvage, reconstruction and recovery plan (PS2R)", which also includes a package of wide-ranging Paris-required reforms to New Caledonia's structural political, economic, social and governance models.

Critics of the PS2R, back in New Caledonia, fear the choice of reimbursable loans, not grants, is increasing the French Pacific archipelago's already ballooning debt.

Since they arrived in Paris late last week, the members of the delegation have also held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron who, they told the media, has assured them of his support.

The new credit line has to be endorsed by the French Parliament, as part of its 2025 budget, currently under debate at the Senate.

Following riots that broke out mid-May, New Caledonia's economy, private and public infrastructures have sustained huge losses for a total estimated amount of some €2.2 billion Euros.

The official death toll is 13.

New Caledonia's mayors ask for more money

The mayors of New Caledonia are asking France for some €180 million Euros.

The requested "exceptional assistance", they said, matched the amount for damages caused by the recent riots to their respective municipalities and communities.

The claim came following a gathering of all French-elected mayors, under the banner of Association des Maires de France (AMF) near Paris at the weekend.

AMF New Caledonia president and mayor of Boulouparis Pascal Vittori said that under the circumstances, "the French state is the only entity capable of saving us".

French AMF President David Lisnard backed the request, saying there should be "national solidarity" towards New Caledonia.

Since the riots broke out in May in New Caledonia, French emergency funds have totalled some €400 million Euros as well as other funds that would be made available in the form of loans.

Vittori said they need the extra funds to "exit the crisis".

"Some of our communes are no longer able to borrow," he said.

Florence Rolland, mayor of New Caledonia's La Foa, told the gathering: "There's been a lot of announcements, but not much concrete."

During a Congress of the Association of France's Overseas Collectivities and Communes, last week in Guadeloupe (French Caribbean), Rolland was also elected president.

Tourism: New Caledonia's south unveils new online platform

In a bid to restore tourism flows six months after the riots, New Caledonia's south has unveiled a new online integrated platform targeting both local and international visitors.

The revamped website aims at offering a one-stop shop for potential visitors, allowing them to book and pay for a variety of services such as road transfers, vehicles, airline tickets, hotels, and activities.

The new design, funded by New Caledonia's Southern Province (which includes the capital Nouméa), comes in response to a drastic drop in visitors since New Caledonia's riots started mid-May, and to correct the negative image it has since suffered on its traditional source markets (including Australia and New Zealand).

Even though the situation has gradually normalised since the height of the riots (in May and June 2024), a curfew, albeit relaxed (midnight to 5am), still remains in place.

Air New Zealand recently advised its flights to New Caledonia remain suspended at least until June 2025.

Southern Province President Sonia Backès told local media: "It's hard to attract visitors when you have a curfew still in place".

"And in Australia, tourists wishing to travel to New Caledonia still have to take an additional insurance policy".

New Caledonia's business leader receives Legion of Honour

New Caledonia's business leaders association (MEDEF-NC) president Mimsy Daly has been made a Chevalier in the French Legion of Honour.

During a ceremony held last week, she received the prestigious distinction from Nouméa mayor Sonia Lagarde.

Daly wrote on social media: "This is not an achievement, rather an encouragement for me to pursue the hard work for New Caledonia's economic and social recognition."

The MEDEF, which is a major player in New Caledonia's economic fabric, has also recently introduced a comprehensive post-riots recovery plan for the French Pacific territory, based on the recognition of the business sector as a major driving force in the reconstruction.

Nouméa police track private security operators in nightly raid

French police in Nouméa have conducted a series of nightly checks on private security operators.

The French High Commission said the aim of the special operation was to detect whether all of those were duly registered and find those who were operating illegally, or even conducting "illegal practices such as racket or extortion".

It said of the 26 company sites and 118 persons checked, law enforcement agencies found 43 were operating illegally.

Following the May 2024 riots in New Caledonia, which saw hundreds of companies burnt down and/or looted, several unaffected businesses owners had alerted authorities that they had received "offers", sometimes threats, inciting them to pay what came across as a thinly-veiled mafia-like "protection fee".

Australia offering New Caledonians access to PALM scheme

Australia is offering to include New Caledonia in the existing Pacific labour mobility (PALM) scheme.

The offer was made last week by Australia's Consul-General in Nouméa, Annelise Young, during a presentation the diplomat made to New Caledonia's Economic, Social and Environmental Council (CESE).

She explained the framework for the scheme, including short-term options (up to nine months) and middle-term employment options (up to four years).

Participating Pacific countries currently include Fiji, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Nauru, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

The idea of including New Caledonia was initially raised by Australia Foreign Affairs minister Penny Wong when she visited New Caledonia in April 2023.

Annelise Young told local media it's a win-win.

She said this was an opportunity typically for young New Caledonians to travel to a neighbouring country and work in an English-speaking environment.

It is envisaged that New Caledonians would start by working in the agricultural sector.

At a later stage, mining or tourism could also be considered.

CESE President Christian Roch welcomed the offer, saying this was a "great opportunity for our youth".

The scheme now remains to be further scrutinised before a formal memorandum of agreement is signed between Australia, on one part, and on the other part by both New Caledonia and France governments.

"So we're still in the infancy," Roch said.

NZ's new Consul-General appointed for French Pacific

New Zealand has appointed its new Consul-General for the French Pacific.

New Zealand's Foreign Affairs minister Winston Peters announced it is Mary Thurston, who will be based in Nouméa, New Caledonia.

Thurston has previously served as Deputy High Commissioner at the New Zealand High Commission in Singapore, as ambassador of New Zealand to Poland with accreditations for Estonia, Georgia, Latvia, Lithuania and Ukraine (2016-2021) and, in the Pacific region, as deputy special coordinator of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

She will be based at New Zealand's Consulate-General in Nouméa, which also covers, as part of its jurisdiction, the other two French Pacific territories of French Polynesia and Wallis-and-Futuna.

Apart from English, the career diplomat speaks French, Spanish and Solomon Islands pidgin.

She replaces Felicity Roxburgh, who had held the Nouméa-based position since May 2021.

Peters had scheduled a visit to New Caledonia in May, but the trip was cancelled due to the insurrectional riots that broke out that same month.

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