Foreign Affairs Ministers from the 18 member countries of the Pacific Islands Forum converged in Suva today to discuss the region’s key priorities and challenges.
Some notable attendees included the Prime Minister of Samoa, Honourable Fiame Naomi Mata’afa; the Prime Minister of Cook Islands, Hon. Mark Brown; the President of the Republic of Kiribati, His Excellency Taneti Maamau; President of Nauru, H.E. Russ Joseph Kun; Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Hon. Penny Wong and Minister for Foreign Affairs of New Zealand, Hon. Nanaia Mahuta.
Representing The University of the South Pacific (USP) as a member of the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific (CROP) were Associate Professor Sandra Tarte (Head of the School of Law and Social Sciences) and Aneet Kumar (Development Cooperation Coordinator).
One of the critical items on the agenda was the 2050 Blue Pacific Strategy’s five-year implementation plan.
In 2022, Forum Leaders endorsed the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent as the region’s long-term strategic policy framework – setting the collective direction for the next three decades through its Vision, Values, Levels of Ambition, Thematic Areas, and Strategic Pathways.
In endorsing the 2050 Strategy, Leaders called for the development of an Implementation Plan for the 2050 Strategy (2050 IP) to set out specific regional actions and timeframes, resource requirements, roles and responsibilities, and measures of success to deliver on the vision and ambition of the 2050 Strategy.
USP has been taking part in drafting the implementation plan, particularly in areas of people-centred development, oceans and climate change and technology and connectivity thematic areas.
The Foreign Ministers also discussed regional key messages in the lead-up to the 78th United Nations General Assembly and the 28th Conference of Parties (COP28) and a way forward on the Fukushima issue.
A declaration of the Foreign Ministers Meeting is expected to be out at the end of the day.
