Sydney talks ‘gabfest’

Press, 22 February 1978, Page 10

Sydney talks ‘gabfest’

NZPA-Reuter Port Moresby T h e Commonwealth Heads of Government regional meeting in Sydney appeared to be “more of a gabfest than anything else,” the Papua New Guinea “Post-Courier” has said. “The inevitable question must now be asked: was the meeting last week a success or a failure?” the newspaper said in an editorial. “The New Zealand Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, who actually went home half-way through the conference, hit the nail on the head when he said that C.H.O.G.R.M. (what a ghastly acronym) could not do anything within the South-East Asian and Pacific regions that was not already being done by the Association of South-East Asian Nations (A.S.E.A.N.) and the South Pacific Forum. “The Prime Minister,, Mr

Somare, seemed to substantiate this when, on the last day of the summit, he called for a review of international forums and their roles in solving problems faced by developing countries such as Papua New Guinea. “Mr Somare succinctly expressed the frustrations of the island nations and territories in our region when he said that in most cases proposals endorsed' by conferences like C.H.O.G.R.M. were never put into action, or, if at all, very slowly, and hardly in the best interests of small island States. ‘‘On balance C.H.O.G.R.M. 1 appeared to be more gabfest than anything else. There will be a C.H.O.G.R.M. 2 in New Delhi. “During the interim, P.N.G. would be well advised to concentrate on the South Pacific Forum and the South Pacific Economic Commission. That is where our future really lies.”