Nauru President Russ Kun passed over the chairmanship of the Micronesian Presidents’ Summit (MPS) from Nauru to the Federated States of Micronesia at the 21st meeting of the MPS in Pohnpei this week.
President Kun attended the 21st MPS in Pohnpei and was also invited to attend the 25th Micronesian Islands Forum (MIF). Nauru and Kiribati are not members of the MIF but it is the intent of the MIF to formally invite Nauru and Kiribati to become members at its meeting on 15 February.
President Kun said despite the chaos and crisis of the recent past, the MPS has emerged stronger through a renewed sense of solidarity, standing side-by-side through a period of sensitive negotiations.
“From crisis, the MPS has emerged stronger than ever, but many storms still lie ahead. Economic volatility, climate change, and a very precarious geopolitical situation will test the resilience of all nations, notably and as is so often the case, the Pacific will likely feel the greatest impacts.
“Therefore, the MPS must continue to stand together, despite the political forces that inevitably conspire to divide us,” President Kun said.
The MPS membership consists of the presidents of FSM, Kiribati, Nauru, Palau, and the Marshall Islands.
The primary purpose for the MPS meeting is to discuss the implementation of the Suva Agreement, such as the location of the forthcoming subregional office of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), which Micronesian country will host the Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner, and exploratory discussions on potential nominees for the next Secretary-General of the PIF.
Additionally, the FSM National Government has solicited the United Nations Resident Coordinator and U.S. Joint Region Marianas to provide the MPS briefings on the current status of United Nations Micronesia and the current state of regional security respectively, with the former largely focused on plans for the United Nations Multi-Country Office’s physical infrastructure and the latter largely focused on illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing and related activity.
SOURCE: NAURU GOVT/PACNEWS
