Opening remarks by the Chair of the Smaller Island States Officials Meeting, Tepaeru Herrmann (Secretary of the Cook Islands Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration)
05 August 2024, Suva, Fiji.
The Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Mr Baron Waqa
Senior Officials of the Pacific Islands Forum
Associate Member Representatives
Representatives of our CROP Agencies
Ladies and Gentlemen
Kia Orana and a very good morning to you all!
Welcome to this session of the Smaller Island States Officials Meeting.
At the outset, allow me to acknowledge and welcome Secretary General Baron Waqa to this – his first engagement as Secretary General with the Smaller Island States Officials Meeting.
Excellencies and Colleagues,
I thank you all for making the time in your schedules to be represented at this engagement, and indeed, the meetings throughout the week.
The region is at a pivotal point in its history.
We have set out long-term vision. And now, we are reviewing and adjusting our regional systems, engagements and politics to support us to better capitalise on the opportunities and address the challenges that continue to emerge.
As Smaller Island States, we have embarked on and concluded a Review of this very grouping. A review that we will have a chance to collectively consider and discuss, during our engagement today.
Over the course of our deliberations, I would urge us to be very clear about the SIS group we want to see, moving forward from this point. Related to that, we will also need to be clear about our expectations of ourselves, of our Secretariat, and most importantly of the support that we wish to garner from the broader Pacific Islands Forum membership.
When we engage in this SIS forum, we do so as one bloc – with a view to discussing and identifying opportunities for collective solutions to common challenges and priorities.
To support our engagement, we will today consider the recommendations of the SIS Review, we will discuss opportunities to integrate and implement some of these recommendations, we will exchange ideas on the identified SIS priorities and how best to prioritise our collective focus within each of these priorities and finally, we will also have the opportunity to caucus on a few key positions that we may wish to put forward to the Forum Officials Committee when it meets on Tuesday and Wednesday.
With those few words, I will turn to the Secretary General and invite him to deliver his Opening Remarks.
[ENDS]
