Australia has come under fire from Dr. Roman Grynberg, the former director of Economic Governance at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.
Grynberg left his job last week after his contact was not renewed.
Crean has rejected all of Grynberg’s allegations.
Crean said he had spoken with trade officials or ministers from every Pacific country in an effort to discover their aspirations for the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations, known as PACER-plus.
He said Australia wants to see PACER-plus be about much more than trade and to include building Pacific Island countries capacity and the skills of their people.
Crean said Australia is willing to fund a Pacific Trade advisor to help Pacific nations develop their negotiating position.
He said under his leadership there would be no bullying and that decisions would be made by ministers and leaders, not officials.
Crean said he was hoping to organize an informal trade ministers meeting next month to prepare a plan for moving forward with PACER-plus, to present to island leaders at their meeting in Australia later this year.
