Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa is in Fiji for the 51st Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and related meetings from 11-14 July 2022 in Suva, Fiji.
The Prime Minister is accompanied by Cabinet Minister Laauli Leuatea Schmidt to the meeting.
Chaired by the Prime Minister of Fiji, Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, said the meeting will be an opportunity to strengthen relationships and reset goals and priorities for regionalism and collective action as a Forum Family.
“The 51st Pacific Islands Forum is an opportunity for us to gather and celebrate 50 years of Pacific regionalism through the Pacific Islands Forum, and to reflect on and honour what it means to work together towards shared aspirations and objectives,” said the Forum Chair.
The Forum Meetings in Suva will culminate in the launch of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent which has been developed over three years and consulted widely across the region.
The Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Ratu Sukuna Rd, as well as other key landmarks, will host a range of meetings and events from July 11- 14, including public-facing festivities and talanoa events, dialogue with civil society and private sector leaders.
Last year five Micronesian member states of the Pacific Island Forum have decided to quit the organisation in response to Cook Islands’ appointment as the new Secretary-General.
The presidents of Nauru, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Marshall Islands and Palau issued a joint communique, saying they agree to start to initiate the formal process of leaving the Forum.
The leaders collectively expressed disappointment with the appointment process, which overlooked the Micronesian candidate Gerald Zackios.
They say a gentleman’s agreement to rotate the Forum’s top position among Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia was not honoured when a majority of Forum leaders chose Henry Puna of the Cook Islands.
The membership was clearly divided on the matter last year as some Polynesian and Melanesian countries put forward candidates, despite an understanding that it should be Micronesia’s turn at the post.
Micronesian leaders first threatened to leave the Forum over the matter months ago
Their departure reduces the Forum to 12 members, all of them in the South Pacific.
