Pacific Island Forum (PIF)

Marape is part of the effort to negotiate an amicable way forward for Micronesian countries not break away from the PIF over contentious issues relating to the appointment of the Secretary-General of the PIF Secretariat.

He said this after a virtual Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting with Guterres on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York City on Thursday September 23.

Guterres said he was concerned about climate change in the Pacific and other parts of the world, and the success of COP-26, given that not all industrialised nations had yet given their political support.

Marape welcomed Guterres’ concern about climate change and COP-26.

The leaders also agreed on the importance of an open and constructive dialogue with Indonesia on the issue. 

The leaders have also accepted French Polynesia and New Caledonia as full Members of the Pacific Islands Forum.

The forum was held from 8 – 10 September 2016 and was attended by Heads of State and Government of Australia, the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Nauru, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Juffa said since its creation, the PIF which is primarily funded by Australia, has been nothing more than an entity that pushes Australian economic and political agenda.

However, Juffa said the appointment of Dame Meg Taylor as the General Secretary for PIF has somewhat changed everything.

He said Dame Taylor has actually given true relevance to the organization and has encouraged greater participation by peoples of the pacific and their governments’ and has refused to be a mere puppet entity pushing neocolonial visions and fantasies.

O’Neill is the outgoing Chair of the PIF, after the Summit was held in Port Moresby in 2015.

He will officially handover Chair responsibilities to Christian infront of all the member country representatives.

The 47th Pacific Island Forum (PIF) Summit in the Federated States of Micronesia started on Sept 7 and will end on Sept 11, 2016.

Fisheries sector will be the main discussion of the forum along with climate change and extreme weather which is affecting the Forum countries.