Pacific Forum leaders meet opens in Samoa

Afternoon showers didn’t dampen spirits as Samoa showcased its best in hospitality for the opening of the 48th Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting last night.

A traditional Ava ceremony was accorded the heads of the Forum-member delegations as well as the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Secretary General Dame Meg Taylor at the Robert Louis Stevenson Museum.

Samoa Prime Minister and Chair of the meeting, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi called on the leaders and member countries to stand together and implement the decisions that the leaders endorse at this year's meeting.

He also encouraged the Pacific to support Fiji's co-presidency of the COP 23, the annual round of the ongoing UN climate negotiations in Germany later this year.

Tuilaepa highlighted a number of important issues that the leaders will discuss over the next few days.

Climate change, fisheries and trade are some of the issues.

The theme of the summit is The Blue Pacific – Our small islands – Our security through sustainable development, management and conservation.’

PIFS Secretary General Dame Meg said she believes that the Blue Pacific has great potential to strengthen our sense of a common identity.

“I see the Blue Pacific providing us with a sense of identity that is fundamentally empowering; a common ocean identity that will enable us to think more innovatively about the way we work together, and with the wider world as we advance the political ambition of the Framework for Pacific Regionalism.”

The Forum leaders are meeting with representatives of Civil Society Organisations in the Pacific today.

It's the first time ever at an annual meeting that Civil Society groups will present to leaders issues of major concerns.

Among items on the agenda are peace and security, non-communicable diseases, deep sea mining.