Ni sa bula vinaka! Thank you to Fiji Prime Minister and Chairman of the Pacific Islands Forum, the Honorable Sitiveni Rabuka for hosting this year’s Pacific Islands Forum.
Ahead of the Forum, President Surangel S. Whipps, Jr. met with other regional leaders at the Micronesian Presidents Summit and Micronesian Island Forum where they reiterated the need to work together, united for the purpose of advancing shared issues like climate change and promoting economic activity to revive economies.
In Fiji, they celebrated Kiribati returning to the Forum. They also continued the work toward the operationalization of the SUVA Agreement as spelled out in the Palikir Communique. The agreement is about everybody realizing that as Pacific brothers and sisters we need to work together to make the region stronger.
The Leaders welcomed former Nauru President Baron Waqa as the next Secretary General of the Forum.
They also agreed on a sub-regional office in Kiribati; Palau hosting the Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner, and the commissioner role being filled by the Forum’s current Deputy Secretary General Filimon Manoni.
