2:17 PM |
Forum Economic Ministers urged to take action on jobs
Updated
Pacific Island Finance Ministers have been told economic growth in the region can be doubled and they need to take action to increase job opportunities.
The Ministers are in Niue for the annual Forum Economic Ministers Meeting.
Forum Secretary General, Tuiloma Neroni Slade, warned the meeting that the small amount of economic growth that is happening in the Pacific at the moment, is taking place without any growth in the number of jobs.
Tonga's Former Finance Minister, Siosiua 'Utoikamanu, now a consultant with the Asian Development Bank, gave the keynote address to the Ministers.
Presenter: Jemima Garrett
Speaker: Tonga's Former Finance Minister, Siosiua 'Utoikamanu
- Listen:
- Windows Media
'UTOIKAMANU: This has something to do with the particular sectors where growth are happening and this is one of the reasons why it is so important that we have broad based sustainable growth in the countries. We all know that many of the countries have got large unemployed young populations and therefore it is important that what growth there is includes the provision of employment opportunities.
GARRETT: Now you told the Forum Economic Ministers that they could double their economic growth by expanding their economic base. What do you mean by that exactly?
'UTOIKAMANU: What we meant was that it should be feasible for some of the forum island countries to improve their growth performance and we were saying doubling your growth should be something to aspire to. Apart from about three or four countries in the Pacific, most of the countries are having difficulty with the impact of the global crisis and so what we're saying is if they can introduce new ways of thinking and new ways of designing and implementing policy, they can create new job opportunities through growth in their national economies.
GARRETT: What sort of areas offer the most hope in terms of jobs?
'UTOIKAMANU: In terms of jobs, we're looking at government doing its business in a smarter way, instead of looking at being the prime provider of services or being the sole provider of services, governments can think about how they can focus on service delivery from other revenues, such as the private sector.
GARRETT: So you're looking at bringing in more competition?
'UTOIKAMANU: That is one of the key factors that we're thinking about in terms of reforms for different sectors, where competition can allow growth to happen.
GARRETT: You say that the policies endorsed by past forum economic ministers meetings are sound. If that is the case, why haven't they delivered more growth in the past?
'UTOIKAMANU: Well, this is something that we had focused our remarks on and we talked about why implementation has been so poor at the national level. And we discussed things like lack of capacity. In a lot of countries, we have a lot of unemployed people, but at the same time, they don't have the right mix of skills to be able to pick up where capacity is needed. We need better policy design for governments, better policy implementation and better monitoring, that is an example of the type of constraints which unfortunately hamper governments from being able to carry out some of the policy principles that are being discussed at FEMM meetings.
GARRETT: Does more importance need to be placed on education, particularly vocational education that gives people those skills for jobs?
'UTOIKAMANU: Oh, absolutely. I think that vocational training is very important, given that not all our young population are inclined towards academic tendencies. They need to learn trade skills, they need the opportunities to put those skills into action, as a way of earning an income and certainly that is one of the areas where there is scope for broadening the economic base.
GARRETT: What action would you like to see from this forum economic ministers meeting there in Niue?
'UTOIKAMANU: Well, we're hoping that we can encourage the ministers to think a little bit about some of the options that we have flagged and look at opportunities by talking to each other, to put these into action in the hope that it will improve their economic performance.
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pacific islands media association
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aotearoa, new zealand
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