REMARKS: PIF Chair, Hon Jeremiah Manele, opening remarks at the Leaders Dialogue with CROP

•    Colleague Leaders,
•    Heads of our Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific,
•    Ladies and Gentlemen,

•    Good morning to you all.

•    To reaffirm with you all again my message from the opening ceremonies last night – it is a deep honour and privilege for the Government and People of Solomon Islands to be hosting the Forum Family on our shores for this 54th Pacific Islands Forum.

[Overview for the Day]

•    As we turn to the day ahead of us, I am pleased that we will have the opportunity to dialogue with our key regional stakeholders. This will also inform and shape our political consideration of our formal agenda in the Leaders Plenary and Leaders Retreat sessions scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday.

•    I have always valued these dialogues as an opportunity to hear directly from stakeholders on key challenges and opportunities they see that we, collectively as Forum Leaders, can support them in addressing.

•    It is an opportunity for Tok Stori, on how we can work together to better deliver for our Pacific people.

[Leaders Dialogue with CROP Heads]

•    Colleague Leaders,

•    On our collective behalf, I am very pleased to welcome our CROP Heads to this Dialogue this morning – Mifala hapi for welkam iufala, ol CROP heads.
•    Indeed, the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific play an instrumental role in the implementation of our decisions as Leaders. It is a responsibility that you carry on our collective behalf, and for this, I thank you.

•    Let me also acknowledge the work that CROP agencies have invested in aligning to our collective 2050 Strategy – this is not a Leaders Strategy only – it is ours collectively, as a Blue Pacific Continent.

•    I thank you all CROP Heads, and your respective Teams for working to support the 2050 Strategy Implementation. I recognise that we are still in early days of implementation but I remain confident that with the right mechanisms, institutional arrangements and the collective political will of this August body, we will advance towards the achievement of our 2050 Vision.

•    This is not a mere aspiration – it is an imperative. All of us around this table today, including our CROP Heads, are entrusted with the responsibility of Leadership:

•    Leadership to ensure that we can collectively deliver for our people;

•    Leadership to drive the collective aspirations of our governments; and

•    Leadership to advocate for the partnerships and support that we need to ensure our priorities are implemented.

•    Our regional system must always be, first and foremost, centered on our people and the membership that it serves.

•    Indeed, our collective decisions as Forum Leaders are for nought, if it is not supported by the implementation machinery that our Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific represent.

•    With these words, I encourage us to engage with openness, candour, and the spirit of solidarity that defines our Blue Pacific Continent.  

•    I now invite the Secretary General and Chair of the CROP to deliver his remarks.