BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
The 54th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting begins today in Honiara and will run from Monday to Friday, September 8-12.
The theme for the one-week leaders meeting is “Iumi Together, Act now for an Integrated Blue Pacific”.
The purpose of the PIF is for the leaders of Pacific countries to meet, develop collective responses to regional issues, address challenges, promote a vision of a resilient Pacific, and foster regional unity and cooperation for peace, harmony, security, social inclusion, and prosperity.
Day-one of the PIF, Monday, September 8, is as follows;
• 09:00 Smaller Island States Leaders Meeting
• 11:30 Pacific ACP Leaders Meeting
• 16:00-17:00 TEPUKE and UTO NI YALO Event
• 18:00-20:00 Opening Ceremony Stadium, Sports City
• 20:00-21:00 Opening Dinner Friendship Hall
Delegates and Representatives from seventeen member countries of the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) are now in Honiara for the meeting. Solomon Islands, as the chair of the 54th PIFLM, brings the total number of attendees to 18.
To begin this week’s high-level meeting, a church service was held yesterday at St. Barnabas Cathedral, attended by Prime Minister Hon. Jeremiah Manele, Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), Baron Waqa, Pacific leaders, and other government officials.
Before this week’s meeting, members of the local and regional media personnel have convened two training workshops: the Interview Skills and Professional Etiquette workshop and the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA/PIFS) Forum Regional Media Workshop.
Around 40 local and regional journalists attended the workshop over the past three days in preparation for the PIF meeting.
The Pacific Islands Forum comprises 18 members: Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea (PNG), the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
