Forum largely successful, says Key

 NEW Zealand Prime Minister John Key  described last week’s Pacific Islands Forum in Port Moresby as “tremendously successful”.

Speaking after the launching the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Office at the New Zealand High Commission inWaigani on Friday, Key said:

“It’s been tremendously successful.

“You’ve had leaders from around the region coming together to talk about so very big issues.

“It was going to be a very full programme because five issues had been identified before we came and I think we had a good chance to talk about those.

“Climate change was going to be a pretty-important issue because we’ve got some low-lying states here so it was fairly dominant in terms of the conversation.

“We go to Paris now for some full discussions in the later part of the year.

“From a fisheries perspective, that’s a massive resource for the region and I think we are making progress towards sustainable fisheries.

“We’ve been pleased to make a few announcements here including overall aid to the region of a billion (New Zealand) dollars over the next three years, an increase from where we’ve been.”