The European Union's Overseas Countries and Territories Association has met in French Polynesia and asked for more funding from Brussels.
.@EdouardFritch, President of French Polynesia and Chairman of OCTA, presented the Political Declaration of the OCTs at the 17th #OCT-#EU Forum in Tahiti, chaired by Commissioner @MimicaEU https://t.co/yqfMo9UVPh pic.twitter.com/qKioRKzOdS
— Overseas Countries & Territories Association (@OCTassociation) March 1, 2019
The Association's gathering in Tahiti, which was led by French Polynesia's president Edouard Fritch, has asked for a $US200 million boost of EU funding for its 25 members.
The pro-independence opposition wanted to confront the visiting French overseas minister Annick Girardin outside the Tahiti venue but she chose to enter the premises through the back door.
After earlier denouncing the summit, the pro-independence leader Oscar Temaru described her move as a shame.
He had criticised the hosting of the event in French Polynesia while France continued to shun the UN-approved decolonisation process for the territory.
In the lead-up to the meeting, he told local television that the French president Emmanuel Macron had described colonialism as a crime against humanity.
The anti-nuclear Association 193 also joined the protest.
