The New Zealand Government’s overseas aid programme was until recently visible, highly regarded in the Pacific and beyond and had reached 0.30 per cent of gross national income, the highest level since 1986. The international target is 0.7 per cent of GNI, so New Zealand has a way to go.
After two years of Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully’s administration, aid expenditure has fallen to 0.28 per cent in 2009 and 0.26 per cent in 2010 despite there being more money in the aid vote. Australia, by contrast, is at 0.32 per cent.
The minister claims to be after quality not quantity, but that’s no excuse for two years of lamentable failure to deliver the quantum of aid approved by Parliament. This failure is far from the only retrograde step.
At the same time there is a sharply rising competition for influence in the Pacific region, and cynics might say, for the UN votes of Pacific Island nations.
- The Arab League has pledged $US50 million in aid to Pacific Island Nations.
- Cuba is training Pacific Islanders at its Medical School in Havana.
- Luxembourg was recently granted observer status to the Melanesian Spearhead Group.
- The United States has declared it is in open competition with China for strategic influence in the Pacific
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