Comunidad del pacífico en perspectiva - Volumen 2

PROSPECTS FOR TECHNICAL (;()-OPERAnON IN TRE MINEIl.ALS ••• . rea, Thailand, Indonesia, Fiji, Solomon Islands, as well as from Papua New Guinea. Recently, a Papua New Guinea Government team visÍted Fiji to pass on our experiences in negotiating mining and petroleum agreements with transnational corporations. (The Fijians have a large porphyry copper prospect "Yhich may be de– veloped in the 1980s and also have issued petroleum exploratíon licenses for the first time). Fijian Government Officials have had very little experience in these areas. Subsequently, a Fijian team visited PNG for further talks. As a result of the discussions a work– 'shop on negotiating mining' agreemen'ts with transnationaI corpo– rations whiclí wasattended by PNG, Solomons Islands, Tonga, and Fijian Govetnment Officials was organized. As a result of initia– tives at ccop /SOPAC annual sessions a 4: month training course in Basic Earth Science was established at the University of tÍleSouth Pacific. This was attended by teéhnicaI officers from all the ccop I SOPAC member countries. Thus it can be seen that there is a strong tradition of co-opera– tion in fue minerals fie1d betwéen the developing ¡sland nations ofthe South' P~cific. The' considerábIt~ assistance from Australia and New Zealand either through direct technical inrmts 01' provi– sion of ftÍnds for specific projects has been a significant factor. It would seem 'lógÍcal that tlÍe bondsforged by such cooperatíon be extended right across the South Pacific to take in Latin American countries 'such as Chile. The obvious area for co-operation between Chile and the South Pácific island nations, 'specifically PNG and Fiji, is the copper in– dustry, partieularly since PNG, may well expand production during the 1980s with the commissionin~ of the Oktedi Proyecto PNG as a relative newcomer to the copper industry still has much to learn on many aspects of the industry. One area is the possibi– li ty mentioned earlier of establishing a copper smelter in PNG. Chile's experience in this aspect of the industry would be of great benefit to PNG as the possibility of OkTedi coming on stream in the middle 1980s is creating renewed interest in such a project. The oPiníons 01 Chilean experts including in depth evaluations 01 proposals, would be a concrete and worthwhile expression 01 co-operation by Chile. , 203