BY IRWIN ANGIKI
The Pacific Islands Forum dialogue partners will not be attending the 54th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Honiara this September – because they have not been invited.
Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele told a press conference Friday last week (August 8) that his government has decided to defer the post-forum dialogue, which would involve these 21 partner countries.
Mr Manele said this decision was done in the spirit of sovereignty and respect of the Pacific Way, and the decisions made in 53rd PIFLM held in Tonga last year.
He said this decision has the support of the Forum’s Troika Plus, a high-level regional political consultative sub-group which consists of the current chair (Tonga), past chair (Cook Islands), incoming chair (Solomon Islands) and the future chair (Palau).
The reason for the deferment is the criteria for partnership and engagement mechanism not yet being ready, Manele said.
In the 53rd PIFLM in Tonga last year, it was decided that criteria for partnership and engagement be refined. This was to be ready by December last year, and tried out in the 54th PIFLM in Honiara.
However, this mechanism is not yet ready.
Thus, PM Manele said they are deferring the post-Forum Dialogue for ‘a later date’.
“…Solomon Islands’ decision to defer the partners’ dialogue meeting to 2026, when Palau will host the 55th Forum for full implementation of the dialogue mechanism, the new dialogue mechanism,” Manele told media.
He adds that the deferment will meanwhile benefit Forum member countries by allowing them to adjust to the new tiering system.
“It is the Pacific’s collective interest that this deferment will provide Forum officials and members additional time to refine the tiering criteria by December 2025 and enable its adoption by Foreign Ministers in early 2026.
“This deferment will also allow our partners adequate time to understand, respond to, and adapt to the reformed engagement process for genuine and effective collaboration,” Manele said.
This is not the first time for the partners’ dialogue to be deferred.
“In 2022, Fiji also deferred the partners’ dialogue with the sole purpose of focusing on building regional unity and solidarity. In the same light, the collective interest of the region takes precedence to reform the partnership and engagement mechanism of the Forum,” Manele said.
PM Manele elaborated on the timeline of his deferment decision.
“Based on the leaders’ collective decision, in June this year, I sent a letter of invitation to all leaders to attend the Honiara Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting in September. My June letter informed all leaders that Honiara will provisionally apply the reformed partnership mechanism.
“However, I have been told that the partnership engagement mechanism will not be ready (6:20) for the Honiara Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting. Hence, the proposed deferment of the partners’ dialogue to 2026.
“It is also important to note that the spirit of the decision in Tonga is such that we cannot revert to the previous arrangement. For partners’ dialogue, as such, the deferment of the partners’ dialogue to 2026, I believe, is the most appropriate one to be taken.
“In the spirit of the Pacific Way, I have, as incoming chair of the Pacific Islands Forum, on 31st of July, [2025] wrote to the Pacific Islands Forum Tracker Plus.
“So I wrote to the Forum Troika Plus, which consists of the Prime Ministers of the Kingdom of Tonga, who is the current chair, the Prime Minister of Cook Islands, the past chair, and the President of Palau, future chair, 2026, on the deferment of the partners’ dialogue to 2026.
“On the 3rd of August, I discussed this further with Tracker Plus via Zoom and got their endorsement. On the 6th of August, I wrote to all Pacific Islands Forum leaders on the matter. All partners will also be informed on the decision.”
According to the Forum website, the 21 dialogue partners are:
Canada (1989), France (1989), Japan (1989), United Kingdom (1989), United States of America (1989), People’s Republic of China (1990), European Union (1991), Republic of Korea (1995), Malaysia (1996), Philippines (1999), Indonesia (2001), India (2002), Thailand (2004), Italy (2007), Cuba (2013), Spain (2014), Türkiye (2014), Germany (2016), Chile (2021), Norway (2021) and Singapore (2021).