PAPEETE (Oceania Flash) — Australia’s visiting consul general has labeled the French Pacific territory of French Polynesia “an area of great stability in the Pacific region,” the territorial news service Tahitipresse reports.
Australian Consul General Denise Fisher, who took the position in June last year, is accredited for all the French Pacific territories of New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna and French Polynesia.
During her first visit to French Polynesia, she met top officials there at both metropolitan French and territorial levels.
She was reported as saying that Australia “appreciates French Polynesia’s economic and political success” and wished the French territory could participate more in regional bodies.
During talks with local officials, tourism, but also trade, were on the agenda.
Since last year, Australia’s flag carrier Qantas has scrapped its direct flights between Sydney and Papeete, while an estimated 8,000 tourists visited Tahiti and its islands last year.
Fisher said while there was room for this figure to increase, another unfavorable factor was that since the Sept. 11 attacks on U.S., many Australians were looking at closer destinations, such as neighboring Western Pacific islands.
On trade issues, the balance between French Polynesia and Australia is still largely in favor of the latter: the French territory last year imported some 130 million Euros worth of good and services from Australia (mainly fuel, about 65 percent of the total imports figure).
Fisher also lauded the territorial government’s recent initiative to lower import taxes.
