Fiji

On his first official visit to Fiji,  Nakao also called on Attorney General and Finance Minister Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum and Foreign Affairs Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola. Discussions focused on ways ADB can further enhance its support for Fiji to meet its development priorities.    

Nakao’s programme also included a visit to the ADB-supported Kinoya wastewater treatment plant near Suva and an official address at the University of the South Pacific (USP), where he discussed potential opportunities and policy priorities for Pacific island countries.

Council President, Nouzab Fareed, has invited all financial members to attend the AGM which will be followed by a network event.

“This meeting is an opportunity to discuss our performance over the past year, celebrate our main achievements, election of office bearers and plan for the future,” Fareed said.

Fareed will take advantage of the presence of all members to discuss moving the council forward in terms of creating more opportunities and strengthening the relationship between the two countries.

Effective management of this revenue will be critical to ensure that long term benefits are realised.

Through the European Union Deep Sea Minerals Project, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) is partnering with the International Monetary Fund and the Pacific Financial Technical Assistance Centre to hold a workshop in Nadi this week (24-27 August) that focuses on the management of revenue emanating from deep sea minerals development.

The meetings are being held at the Tanoa International Hotel, Nadi, Fiji. 

Senior officials and representatives from Fiji, PNG, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu will be in attendance as part of talks towards a new and more comprehensive trade agreement - MSGTA3 – that will now include Trade in Services, and new chapters such as Labour Mobility, Investment, and Telecommunications. 

MSG Leaders have directed that a draft legal text of the trade agreement must be ready by November 2015.

The meetings include: 

Cook Islands won the biennial event two years ago but will not defend their title, choosing to focus their limited resources on November's Olympic Sevens Qualifier.

Newcomers American Samoa open proceedings against Solomon Islands at Sir Hubert Murray Stadium, followed by hosts Papua New Guinea against Tahiti, in the first round of matches.

The General Manager of Rugby PNG, Frank Genia, says pride and silverware aren't the only things on up for grabs.

Following in the footsteps of the World Club Challenge, long contested by NRL and Super League clubs, the premiers of PNG and Fiji's national leagues will now play off for a regional title. 

The match will take place at Sir John Guise Stadium in Port Moresby on Saturday 10 October 2015 at 7pm. 

The  biennial forum will be staged from 22-25 September in Nadi and PNG National Fisheries Authority (NFA) will meet half the bill of the hosting cost with the host nation.

“The contribution (from PNG) has reached over a million kina and it’s what NFA has budgeted for,” said John Kasu, NFA managing director.

He was speaking at a reception organised by the NFA last Friday to give an update on the progress to the media and also acknowledge individual business houses and statutory organizations who had financially  supported the forum.

The report — titled How AIDS changed everything — released in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on the sidelines of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development last week, noted that the figure was small compared with the Asia-Pacific's total figure of 340,000 new infections recorded last year.

But according to UNAIDS Pacific country director Roberto Campos, these figures showed the need for increased education on HIV prevention that should be taken into account by policy-makers.

PNG took a 1-0 lead after the 8th minute of play when Patrick Aisa powered a kick into the nets.

PNG held on to the lead going into half time.

Fiji came out stronger in the second half and dominated possession early on in the game.

This resulted in the equalizer in the 53rd minute through Tony Tuivuna.

The game looked to be going towards a draw with three minutes extra time given.

PNG runners Theo Pinau, Nelson Stone, Wesley Logorava and Kupun Wisil capped off another day of dominance on the track coming first, recording a time of 40.62 seconds.