Delivered by the Deputy Secretary General, Desna Solofa at the Pacific ACP Officials Meeting.
15 August 2025
PIF Secretariat, Suva, Fiji.
Excellencies, Senior Officials,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps
Representatives of CROP Agencies
Development Partners
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Ni sa bula vinaka, talofa lava and a very good morning to you all. It’s my great pleasure to welcome all of you to this important gathering as we prepare for the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Honiara in September - four weeks from today.
Excellencies and Senior Officials,
The former British Prime Minister, Sir Harold Wilson, once said that a week is a long time in politics. Indeed, it is, as much has evolved globally and regionally since the last meeting of the Pacific ACP Officials in 2024. It begs the question of, how do our small island developing states, with minimal resources, keep pace, let alone strategically maneuver, alongside these developments? How do we make those critical linkages between these geopolitical developments at the global level and the strategic prioritization of regional and national actions that we need to be advising our political leaders? Are we doing enough? These are some questions that should be at the back of our minds as we gather to discuss regional issues during this meeting today.
Excellencies and Senior Officials,
As you are aware, the Samoa Agreement was signed in Apia in November 2023, —a significant milestone in strengthening our partnership with the European Union and the African and the Caribbean sub-regions. Advancing towards its effective implementation underscores the urgency with which we need to finalise the Pacific Regional Protocols. A copy of the ACP Rules of Procedures, which has been endorsed at the Committee of Ambassador level in Brussels, has been circulated and is an important cog in the wheel of this process. And I acknowledge the PACP Coordinator, His Excellency Ambassador Varo joining in online and for the update to be provided on this progressive work.
As it stands, the designated secretariat for Pacific issues is the ACP Secretariat in Brussels. We look forward to your interactive engagement on how we can leverage our own regional institutions within the ongoing review of the regional architecture to manage PACP issues. And with it, the necessary resources to effectively support our members in the implementation of the Samoa Agreement.
Over recent years, we have witnessed many positive developments in our partnership with the EU—particularly in areas such as trade, climate change, sustainable energy, ocean sustainability, and ocean governance. These initiatives are instrumental in fostering a sustainable blue Pacific economy, which remains at the heart of our vision for the region’s future.
Climate change remains an existential threat in our Blue Pacific region. Our collective efforts at the COP30 in Belém, Brazil this year will need to consolidate the momentum garnered from the historic ICJ advisory opinion on loss and damage for the PSIDS in July. Notwithstanding its non-binding in nature, this will be an excellent opportunity to leverage this important milestoneon advancing PSIDS’ collective interests on the operationalisation of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD). Our Climate Champions will play a crucial role in increasing the PSIDS’ visibility on the global stage and I strongly encourage your support in finalising their selection to advocate for the escalation of climate actions and progressing our ambition to secure meaningful commitments that protect our islands and communities in the Blue Pacific.
We’re also pleased that the EU Delegation for the Pacific has accepted our invitation to brief you in the latter part of the programme on the crossing of the bridge from the Pacific Regional Integration Support (PRISE) and the Pacific EU Marine Partnership Programme (PEUMP) programmes under the EDF11 nomenclature, to the successor programmes under the Neighbourhood, Development, and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI, or Global Europe).
Excellencies and Senior Officials,
I encourage you all to work together as a collective in delivering outcomes which are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant in the evolving regional and international landscapes, and time-bound, so that we can translate our meeting outcomes today into concrete actions and results that benefit in everything that we do - our Pacific communities.
In closing, I wish you well in your deliberations.
[ENDS]
