Pacific Islands Forum
Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Website
The Pacific Islands Forum (known until 27 October 2000 as the South Pacific Forum) is the key regional political organisation in the Pacific. It brings together at an annual meeting the 16 Heads of Government of the independent and self-governing States of the Pacific Islands region.
The first Pacific Islands Forum meeting — attended by the seven founding members, Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, New Zealand, Tonga and Western Samoa - was held in 1971 in Wellington, New Zealand. The meeting stemmed from a desire by leaders to address common issues from a regional perspective and to give their collective views greater weight in the international community.
The founding member countries have since been joined by Niue, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and most recently (September 1995) Palau.
New Caledonia and French Polynesia, previously Forum Observers, were granted Associate Membership in 2006. Current Forum Observers include Tokelau, Wallis and Futuna, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank, the Word Bank, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of Northern Marianas, and the Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States Secretariat. Timor Leste has Special Observer status.
The political mandate of the Forum has been apparent since the communiqué of the first Forum meeting in 1971. From the start, Forum meetings have focused heavily on regional trade and economic issues. Good governance and security have more recently become part of the Forum’s agenda.
Forum Heads of Government meet annually in formal session, including a Leaders’ Retreat which provides an opportunity for private and frank discussions at the highest level. The Heads of Government meeting is preceded by a meeting of the Forum Officials Committee (FOC) which reports to leaders on regional issues. There are few set rules governing the conduct of Forum meetings.
The Forum is chaired usually on an annual rotating basis by the head of the host government, although there is flexibility for members to host the meeting in conjunction with a significant national event or occasion.
The 40th Forum was Chaired by the Australian Prime Minister and held in Cairns in August 2009. Key outcomes are set out in the Cairns Communiqué. They include the Cairns Compact on Strengthening Development Coordination in the Pacific; a Call to Action on Climate Change, in advance of Copenhagen, agreement to commence negotiations on a new regional trade and economic agreement (PACER Plus), and the hosting of meetings seeking to strengthen protection and management of regional fisheries resources and on improving energy security. Subsequent Forums, in Port Vila in 2010 and in Auckland in September 2011, have reaffirmed strong support for the Cairns Compact on Strengthening Development Coordination.
At the 42nd Forum, held in Auckland in September 2011, Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to a regional approach to climate change financing and sustainable management of marine ecosystems and resources. For the first time by any UN Secretary-General, the meeting was attended by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who also addressed Leaders at the Plenary. A joint statement issued by Pacific Island Forum Leaders and the UN Secretary General announced agreement to convene meetings between the UN Secretary-General and Pacific leaders at regular intervals.
Post-Forum Dialogue
The growing recognition of the Forum’s role as an important channel through which the Pacific island countries express their collective views on international issues and maintain contact with countries and organisations outside the region is reflected in the development of an annual Post-Forum Dialogue with selected non-regional parties.
The first Post-Forum Dialogue (PFD) was held in 1989 with Canada, China, France, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Since then, the European Union, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Thailand and Italy have also become dialogue partners. There are currently 14 PFD partners with the criteria for membership requiring members to demonstrate a sustained contribution to the region over a period of time. An underlying objective of recent Dialogues has been to strengthen the effectiveness of development assistance through the identification of priorities and through the greater coordination between development partners and Forum members.
The 1992 Forum agreed to institute a dialogue meeting with Taiwan, the first of which was held in Nauru in July 1993. This meeting takes place at the same locality but in a different venue from the Forum and is separate from the Post Forum Dialogue process. Participating Forum countries do so in their own right and do not represent the Forum as a whole.
Forum reform
A Special Leaders’ Retreat was held in Auckland on 6 April 2004 to consider the Forum Eminent Persons’ Group review of the Pacific Islands Forum, commissioned by Leaders at the 2003 Forum. Leaders issued the Auckland Declaration and agreed to thirty-three recommendations to reform the Forum and its Secretariat. These included the development of the Pacific Plan to create stronger and deeper links within the region and to identify the sectors where the region could gain most from sharing resources of governance and aligning policies. Leaders agreed that the Forum’s priorities should be good governance, security, economic growth and sustainable development. The Secretariat has since been restructured to reflect Leaders’ decisions, and the Pacific Plan was endorsed by Leaders at the 2005 Forum. The Secretariat underwent a further restructure in 2008. The Pacific Plan is reviewed annually and remains the primary vehicle for progressing regional approaches to the priority issues of economic growth, sustainable development, good governance and security.
| No. | Date | City | Country | Communiqué |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42nd | September 2011 | Auckland | New Zealand | Forum Communiqué |
| 41th | August 2010 | Port Vila | Vanuatu | Forum Communiqué |
| 40th | August 2009 | Cairns | Australia | Forum Communiqué (PDF) |
| 39th | August 2008 | ‘Alofi | Niue | Forum Communiqué (PDF) |
| March 2008 | Auckland | New Zealand | Forum Foreign Affairs Ministers' Meeting, Outcomes statement | |
| 38th | October 2007 | Nuku’alofa | Tonga | Forum Communiqué (PDF) |
| 37th | October 2006 | Nadi | Fiji | Forum Communiqué |
| 36th | October 2005 | Port Moresby (retreat in Madang) | Papua New Guinea | Forum Communiqué |
| 35th | August 2004 | Apia | Samoa | Forum Communiqué (PDF) |
| April 2004 | Auckland | New Zealand | Special Leaders’ Retreat, Declaration and leaders’ Decisions The Auckland Declaration |
|
| 34th | August 2003 | Auckland | New Zealand | Forum Communiqué (PDF) |
| 33rd | August 2002 | Suva | Fiji | Forum Communiqué (HTML) Forum Communiqué (PDF) |
| 32nd | August 2001 | Nauru | Republic of Nauru | Forum Communiqué (HTML) Forum Communiqué (PDF) |
| 31st | October 2000 | Tarawa | Republic of Kiribati | Forum Communiqué (HTML) Forum Communiqué (PDF) |
| 30th | October 1999 | Koror | Republic of Palau | Forum Communiqué (HTML) Forum Communiqué (PDF) |
| 29th | August 1998 | Pohnpei | Federated States of Micronesia | Forum Communiqué (HTML) Forum Communiqué (PDF) |
| 28th | Sep1997 | Rarotonga | Cook Islands | Forum Communiqué (HTML) Annex 1 | Annex 2 | Annex 3 |
| 27th | Sep1996 | Majuro | Republic of the Marshall Islands | |
| 26th | September 1995 | Madang | Papua New Guinea | |
| 25th | August 1994 | Brisbane | Australia | |
| 24th | August 1993 | Nauru | ||
| 23rd | July 1992 | Honiara | Solomon Islands | |
| 22nd | July 1991 | Pohnpei | Federated States of Micronesia | |
| 21st | August 1990 | Port Vila | Vanuatu | |
| 20th | July 1989 | Tarawa | Republic of Kiribati | |
| 19th | September 1988 | Nuku’alofa | Tonga | |
| 18th | May 1987 | Apia | Western Samoa | |
| 17th | August 1986 | Suva | Fiji | |
| 16th | August 1985 | Rarotonga | Cook Islands | |
| 15th | August 1984 | Funafuti | Tuvalu | |
| 14th | August 1983 | Canberra | Australia | |
| 13th | August 1982 | Rotorua | New Zealand | |
| 12th | August 1981 | Port Vila | Vanuatu | |
| 11th | July 1980 | Tarawa | Republic of Kiribati | |
| 10th | July 1979 | Honiara | Solomon Islands | |
| 9th | September 1978 | Alofi | Niue | |
| 8th | August 1977 | Port Moresby | Papua New Guinea | |
| 7th | July 1976 | Nauru | ||
| 6th | July 1975 | Nuku’alofa | Tonga | |
| 5th | March 1974 | Rarotonga | Cook Islands | |
| 4th | April 1973 | Apia | Western Samoa | |
| 3rd | September 1972 | Suva | Fiji | |
| 2nd | February 1972 | Canberra | Australia | |
| 1st | August 1971 | Wellington | New Zealand |
Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat
The Forum’s administrative arm is the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, based in Suva, Fiji. It acts as the Secretariat for Forum-related events, implements decisions by the Leaders, facilitates the delivery of development assistance to member states, and undertakes the political and legal mandates of Forum meetings. The Secretariat is funded by contributions from member governments and donors.
- Established
- 1972 by the 2nd South Pacific Forum (as the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Cooperation). Renamed the Forum Secretariat at the 19th South Pacific Forum in 1988.
- Location
- Suva, Fiji.
- Secretary-General
- Tuiloma Neroni Slade (Samoa)
- Australian contribution
- Australia provided core funding of A$3,415,000 in 2011. Total Australian support to the Secretariat for its core work as well as well as for important Pacific wide programmes will exceed A$10,000,000 for the two years 2010 and 2011.
- Members
- there are 16 members: Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji (suspended since 2 May 2009), Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
Contact details for more information
If you have any further questions about the Pacific regional organisations, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade may be able to help you. Please contact:
Director, Pacific Regional Section
Phone: (02) 6261 2224
Fax: (02) 6261 2661