French Pacific Territories

Long-term productivity in the French Pacific. The other territories of the British, US and French Pacific. Return to the Pacific Nuclear Test Archive content page. The banknotes for the French Pacific are destined for Tahiti and French Polynesia.

French Pacific and free trade

Oceania's economy has accelerated since the early 2000s, with the obvious aim of establishing joint territorial free trading regulations. Efforts towards an internal energy supply included the Pacific Agreement on Enhanced Commercial Relations (PACER, 2001), the Pacific Island States Agreement on International Economics (PICTA, 2002) and recent ratification efforts of PACER Plus (2017).

New Caledonia and French Polynesia, however, are still missing from the talks. Oceanía occupies one-sixth of the earth and its nation states show remarkable contrast. Areas, populations or GDP, the Pacific Island states can appear as a compound and divided region. French New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna have the same market constraints and isolations as most small island states (SIS).

The French Polynesia is rich in minerals, but its extraordinary nature can only be exploited through tourists, while the Wallis and Futuna Islands depend exclusively on money transfer from the continent. Irrespective of this, the French territories are characterised by a level of GDP and mankind' s growth similar to that of the industrialised world.

Indeed, mass movements of funds in conjunction with duties and tariffs on imports have resulted in excessively protected countries whose buying capacity has nothing to do with real GDP. More than 97% of New Caledonia and French Polynesia have fewer than 10 people. Like most Oceania isles, the main focus of the economy is on the local economy with limited exports.

For example, geographic isolation, the absence of trading opportunities and the heterogeneous nature of the Pacific island economy have a major impact on trading policy. This protectionist approach is justified by the fragile nature of the French territories' industry and commerce, which were unable to rival free commerce. Moreover, sluggish internal consumption is hampering the growth of a powerful and diverse market.

At the same pause, the only way to move from substituting imports to gaining a foothold in the French territory is to determine its relative advantage, while at the same embarking on the development of those industries that can be exported on an international scale. French exports (excluding New Caledonian nickel) are currently depressed.

Against the background of low pricing competition, it seems necessary to extend the research area to the strategy of insular enterprises and the expansion of activity in the retail area. The study of the small isle' s economy presents a singular range of challenge. Most of the scientific documentation focuses on neo-classical or Keysnesian colleges, which are difficult to be translated into the specific characteristics of the small isles.

Smaller-ISL' economics were boosted in the 1990' with the establishment of the Small Iceland Developing States Group at the United Nations. The business books of the small isles repeatedly conclude that transport questions and small quantities of output are leading to a contradictory perspective on free enterprise. The realities of the SIS therefore necessitated particular handling in important multilateral commercial talks.

Oceania's Oceania has always been sheltered from the pressures of free enterprise and, in particular, South Pacific industrialised countries' economic competitiveness (which can be changed with PACER Plus). Pacific Island Forum development counties are benefiting from privileged market entry into Australia and New Zealand through the South Pacific Regional Agreement on Commerce and Economic Cooperation (SPARTECA, 1981).

French territories are connected to the French economy through an associative arrangement allowing duty-free and quota-free entry into the European Union (EU) notifications. French trade relations with the EU are discouraging all efforts to comply with the World Trade Organisation standards. In these exceptional conditions, it is appropriate to challenge the optimal level of Oceania's level of macroeconomic economic integration. 2.

SIS' low stage of maturity and tight market conditions hinder business opportunity. The relatively high levels of GNP in Australia and New Zealand, coupled with the resilience of their respective economy, however, provide trading opportunity. Against this backdrop, a broader opening of the French economy creates complexity. Much of the other Pacific Isles are poorly educated poorly educated people who want to import labour for work on season.

Simultaneously, the high-quality industrial goods of Australia and New Zealand are likely to destabilise the economy of the French collectives. Integrating the French territories into the other driving forces of Oceania would modernise the bases for expansion (financial transfer, indexing, currency over-evaluation) and homogenise the levels of the Pacific Islands' reflation.

Finally, there are more chances of mutual benefit in areas such as the service sector or through bi-lateral arrangements with Australia and New Zealand which have no commercial dimensions. A greater degree of transparency towards these states could be compensated for by non-economic co-operation. Therefore, local free enterprise should be seen as a first stage in the process of interregional social inclusion in other areas: institutionally, normatively, financially, academically, militarily and scientifically.

The paper is a summary of the most important trade-related research that has taken place in the last four years at the Law and Economics Research Laboratory of the University of New Caledonia. This is part of the "Pacific Régional Inclusion - PICTA/PACER" programme. From 2011, the laboratory was selected and funded by the Pacific Fund of the French Ministry of External Relations to evaluate the financial impact of the introduction of a free zone for the French Pacific regions.

The result of this work is a model book entitled "What kind of region's Pacific Area? by Lagadec G.(dir.), Ellero J., Farvaque E., 2016, New Caledonia University Press, 122 pages.