Partnerships and implementation of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent (2050 Strategy), as well as the preparations for the 10th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM10) in Tokyo this July, are on the agenda for the 5th Japan-Pacific Foreign Ministerial meeting in Suva on 12 February.
The Ministerial Interim Meeting is to follow-up on previous PALM commitments and to allow preparatory discussions for the PALM later in the year, which will be the first face to face session since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 5th PALM Ministerial Interim Meeting (MIM) will be an historic event as it comes to the Pacific for the first time, ahead of the high-level PALM10 in Tokyo from 16-18 July 2024.
Senior Officials Meetings in hybrid mode have prepared a formal programme for events on 11-12 February.
“The Japan – Pacific Island Forum Leaders Meeting has come to symbolise a level of mutual respect and dialogue as the way to deepen progress towards common ground, as a collective, between our sea of islands and global development partners such as Japan,” said Forum Secretary General SG Puna.
“With the recent Pacific Partnerships for Prosperity launch from the Forum Leaders meeting in Rarotonga, to the next steps for the 2050 Implementation Plan, I look forward to the 5th PALM Ministerial Interim Ministerial in Suva playing an integral part in framing the first face to face PALM since 2018,” he said.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan Yoko Kamikawa will head the Japan delegation, with plans to visit Samoa enroute to Fiji this week.
Delegations from Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu will begin arriving in Suva this weekend.
SOURCE: PIFS/PACNEWS
