By Pita Ligaiula in Savusavu
Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) President Kalafi Moala has welcomed a record gathering of Pacific media professionals to the 8th Pacific Media Summit in Savusavu.
Speaking Tuesday at the opening dinner for delegates, Kalafi said the summit had attracted the largest attendance in PINA’s history, bringing together journalists and media representatives from across the Pacific and beyond.
“This is the biggest attendance we have ever had in a PINA conference,” Kalafi said.
Kalafi said the gathering was also significant as PINA marked more than five decades of regional media cooperation.
He recalled that PINA was established in Samoa before its secretariat was later moved to Fiji, where it has remained based for decades.
“PINA started in Samoa, and for the first four or five years we were in Samoa, and the Samoans kicked us out,” he said jokingly.
“And the Fijians took PINA back to Fiji and set up the secretariat here,” he told delegates in Savusavu.
Kalafi said the strength of PINA’s conferences was not only the formal programme but the relationships built among media practitioners from different Pacific countries.
“One of the highlights of all our PINA conferences is the fellowship, the camaraderie, being able to sit down with people that you haven’t seen for years or new people that you have never met and really have a time together,” he said.
He welcomed delegates from across the Pacific, including Tonga, Samoa, Niue, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, French Polynesia, Wallis and Futuna and the Cook Islands.
Kalafi also acknowledged former Fiji President Ratu Wiliame Katonivere, the British Deputy High Commissioner and Fiji’s Permanent Secretary for Information Eseta Nadakuitavuki.
He paid tribute to long-serving Pacific media figures attending the summit, including Cook Islands News founder John Woods and former PINA president Johnson Honimae.
“It’s great to have this time together,” Kalafi said.
He said the presence of Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and Deputy Prime Minister Manoa Kamikamic at the summit the following day would make the gathering particularly significant.
“It’s just tremendous,” he said.
Kalafi also paid tribute to journalists and media colleagues who had died, saying the summit would provide an opportunity to remember their contribution to Pacific journalism.
He specifically acknowledged Mary Fonua, whose husband and prominent Tongan media figure Pesi Fonua had died.
“Mary is so good to have her here with us at this conference,” he said.
Kalafi wellcomed the delegates and urging them to make the most of the week in Savusavu.
“It’s so good to have you all here. Wow, what an incredible group, and we’re looking forward to a great time,” he said.
