The Miss Pacific Islands Pageant (MPIP) 2020 has been cancelled.
The government of Samoa, who owns the MPIP franchise and was to be the host of this year’s pageant, has made this difficult decision due to COVID-19.
The government of Samoa also postponed the upcoming 30th Teuila Festival and the Miss Samoa pageant. This is the first cancellation in the Festival’s 30 year history.
The current Miss Samoa and Miss Pacific Islands, Fonoifafo McFarland-Seumanu’s reign will extend for another year.
The Chairman of the Secretariat of Miss Pacific Islands Pageant, Faamatuainu Suifua, said: “The current developments globally and especially in our region with the increasing numbers of total confirmed COVID-19 cases and deceased, uncertainty on international borders and continuing extended State of Emergencies for each island nation, have indeed placed major challenges in terms of required resources and logistics to host a successful and a high quality event we are accustomed to.
“Furthermore, the Secretariat of MPIP has been informed of the various island Board members’ (including PNG) decisions to cancel this year’s Pageants. From the Secretariat’s standpoint and also as the next Miss Pacific host nation, we were praying and hoping that towards the second half of this year, the pandemic and its impacts would have reduced or better, to have nil cases. Not to mention an available vaccine be found and we can all go back to our normal lives and plans. However, to date, this is far from what we had hoped for.
“We believe these are the best options given the most challenging times for our generation and especially our region. I pray that our heavenly father will continue to bless and keep our beloved region safe during these difficult times.”
(Miss Pacific Islands being crowned in Port Moresby 2019)