The Call for a Forum
In its first two years of operation, Graduate Studies in Diplomacy and International Affairs has attracted a very talented and highly experienced student body. Over one-hundred people are studying in the program, including former and currently serving diplomats, journalists, senior business people, senior civil servants, UN and regional agency staff, military officers and teachers. Although drawn primarily from Fiji, the group also includes students from Cook Islands, Kiribati, Tonga, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu.
It was out of this very talented group that the call has come for the establishment of a Forum where this new International Relations network could link with others interested in promoting informed dialogue and knowledge-sharing on international relations issues affecting Pacific island states.
An Arena for Dialogue
The Forum seeks to promote an interest in, and understanding of international issues within the Pacific islands region. The Forum will do this by organizing public lectures, panel discussions, and informal round tables, involving such speakers as resident ambassadors, visiting Pacific leaders, and international specialists.
The Forum seeks to foster region-wide dialogue through on-line publication of Pacific perspectives on debates on key international relations issues. It will not put forward an institutional view on any issue but rather will seek to foster productive and respectful dialogue and debate and create the opportunity for Pacific Island perspectives to be heard on key issues affecting the Pacific.
An International Relations Focus
The Forum promotes discussion of a broad range of international issue areas including international trade and investment; international security; conflict, international peacekeeping and conflict resolution; global and regional environmental challenges; and the impact of developments in global and regional governance.
The Forum also fosters discussion concerning ways that Pacific states might best rise to the challenges and opportunities posed by global developments. The Forum aims to foster a Pacific debate on truly Pacific perspectives on the key international challenges.
A Regional Network and Virtual Forum
The Forum will build on the regional network emerging from participation in the Graduate Studies in Diplomacy and International Affairs program, through video-conferencing, regional workshops and on-line dialogue around position papers on key international relations issues.
Providing an arena for face-to-face dialogue and information-sharing, the Forum also seeks to develop a virtual arena for debate through an on-line presence. This will be approached through the commissioning and on-line presentation of short discussion papers representing Pacific perspectives on key international relations issues and inviting on-line responses from the regional network. This would be a cut above a blog but less formal than an on-line academic journal.
Management
The Forum's administrative home will be the School of Government, Development and International Affairs in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of the South Pacific and will be under the general supervision of the Head of School.
The Forum's day-to-day activities will be managed by a Committee drawn from the alumni and current student body of the Graduate Studies in Diplomacy and International Affairs to maintain the impetus and vitality of the origins of the idea. The Committee will decide what issues are to be explored and which speakers are to be invited. They will do so however within the guidelines set out above concerning the objective of fostering respectful dialogue and the opportunity for the consideration of varying perspectives.
The 2012 Organising Committee
(Alumni and Students of Graduate Studies in Diplomacy and International Affairs)
Sila Balawi (former Fiji Foreign Ministry official)
Ruci Botei (SPC, Suva)
Tepaeru Herrmann (Cook Islands Foreign Ministry
Annette Honimae (Solomon Islands)
Makereta Komai (Pacnews)
Kelera Lisoya (US Peace Corps, Suva)
Manu Manuofetoa (Tongan journalist)
Romulo Nayacalevu (UNOCHR)
Vani Samuwai (former Fiji diplomat)
Sam Te'0 (former Tuvalu Minister)
Opal Thaggard (Fijian, US Embassy)
Timoa Tokataam (Kiribati diplomat)
Alipate Vosaicake (Fiji Military Forces)
