“The Pacific stands behind only Sub-Saharan Africa as the region with the most ground to make up to achieve the millennium development goals,” Peters said in a speech in Wellington.
The U.N.’s eight millennium development goals adopted in 2000 include halving extreme poverty by the target date of 2015.
Economic growth in the Pacific region was failing to keep up with population growth and youth unemployment is getting worse, he said while launching New Zealand’s strategy for aid to the Pacific for the period up to 2015.
“The Pacific is at risk of falling victim to all the wasted potential and social and economic chaos that poverty brings,” Peters said.
Corruption was another problem in the region and it was important Pacific people held their politicians to account, he said.
“In some cases, governmental decision-making is weak in addressing national problems, and modern governance practices are not followed,” Peters said.
During the period up to 2015, New Zealand will provide over $1.52 billion in development assistance to the Pacific, based on current aid levels.
The four pillars of the Pacific strategy are strengthening governance, achieving broader-based economic growth, improving health and education, and helping make the region more resilient to change.
The Pacific accounts for 70 percent of New Zealand’s bilateral aid and over 50 percent of total aid, with assistance of nearly $243 million earmarked during the current financial year.
There are more than a dozen independent island states in the Pacific, ranging from the largest Papua New Guinea to the smallest Tuvalu, as well as a handful of territories, mostly linked to the U.S.
