Pohnpei,
FSM, 3rd December 2012 - The President of the
Federated States of Micronesia, H.E Emmanuel Mori welcomed the preliminary
findings of the peer review conducted under the Cairns Compact on Strengthening
Development Coordination (Forum Compact) 12 – 26 November 2012.
The Government of the
FSM is the 9th Forum Island Country that has volunteered for a peer
review of its national development planning, budgeting, public financial and
aid coordination processes and systems.
The FSM has also
specifically requested that in recognition of the pressing challenges facing
the country, that their Peer Review team should also consider the suitability
of the existing policy environment for promoting private sector development.
Selected by the FSM
Government, the FSM Peer Review Team consisted of Mr Catalino Kijiner from the
Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Ms Noumea Simi representing
the Government of Samoa, Mr Johnson Naviti of the Vanuatu Government and Mr
Asif Chida from the UNDP Pacific Centre in Fiji. The Team was assisted by staff
of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.
The team consulted with
leaders and agencies of the FSM national and state governments as well as
non-government organizations, the private sector and development partners.
The Forum Compact Peer
Review Team presented its preliminary findings through an Aide Memoire to the
government and key stakeholders of FSM on 26 November. The team’s draft report
is scheduled to be completed in three weeks and it will be released after the
government has approved the recommendations.
In its presentation of
its preliminary findings, the peer team acknowledged the support from both the
national and state government agencies for the review and congratulated FSM on
having chosen to host the peer review process after the completion of an FSM Partners’
Forum and a Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Assessment (PEFA).
This was a sign that the processes for
reforms are underway in FSM and the team had tried to support this in its
discussions and conclusions.
During the peer review,
the team stressed that the review was
not an assessment but was meant to be helpful to FSM by identifying existing
starting points for progress and where there are missing elements, and most of
all by putting FSM in touch with similar experience in the rest of the region.
The team was impressed
by the common sense of urgency about the need for reforms and growth in FSM.
Everyone, including the private sector and the NGOs were interested in how
other countries are growing the private sector, managing aid and encouraging
participation by all sections of society in inclusive development. The team
also emphasised that the private sector and NGOs in the FSM are national
development assets and encouraged both the national and state governments to
foster close collaboration with in the years leading up to 2023.
On planning, the peer review
team recognized the limited functionality of the FSM national Strategic
Development Plan and national planning capacity but acknowledged some level of
planning at the sector and state levels.
The team had concerns about whether the current complex form of performance
based budgeting was working for the FSM and suggested more simplified, targeted
performance budgeting based on experience elsewhere in the Pacific.
The FSM Forum Compact
Peer Review team noted that for the private sector in the country, the main
missing element (after tax reform underway) is a strategy for investment and
domestic business growth. The team will recommend that such a strategy be driven
by the private sector with appropriate assistance and drawing on the experience
of neighbouring countries.
The team also
acknowledged that the FSM Government has shown it takes aid management
seriously through the establishment of the Department of Statistics, Budget,
ODA and Compact (SBOC). The team welcomed the establishment of an aid management
function at the state level noting that the key point is aid management and acknowledged that the draft FSM ODA or Aid policy
was being set along the right policy lines.
Substantive
recommendations will be made on the areas covered by the peer review’s terms of
reference in the final report.
ENDS.
For media enquiries contact Mr Johnson Honimae, the
Forum Secretariat’s Media Officer on phone 679 3312600 or email: johnsonh@forumsec.org.fj
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