Pacific Islands Forum

Pacific Islands Forum 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.

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 37th Forum meeting was held in Fiji on 24 and 25 October 2006. Tonga will host the next Forum in 2007.

The 37th Forum maintained the momentum for improved governance and the pooling of regional resources. Forum leaders agreed on a number of key commitments to move the Pacific Plan forward in the next twelve months.

Forum Associate Membership and Observership

New Caledonia and French Polynesia, previously Forum Observers, were granted Associate Membership in 2006. Current Forum Observers include Tokelau (2005), Wallis and Futuna (2006), the Commonwealth (2006), the United Nations (2006) and the Asian Development Bank (2006), with Timor Leste as Special Observer (2002).

Post-Forum Dialogue

The growing recognition of the Forum's role as an important channel by 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 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 and Thailand have also become dialogue partners. At the 2005 Forum, Leaders placed a moratorium on new dialogue partners and directed the Secretariat to review the criteria and arrangements for the Post Forum Dialogue and report to the 2006 Forum.

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. Forum countries participate 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 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.

Meetings of the Pacific Islands Forum

No.	Date		City	Country	Communiqué
	March	2008	Auckland	New Zealand	Forum Foreign Affairs Minister's Meeting, Outcomes statement
38th	Oct	2007	Nuku’alofa	Tonga	Forum Communiqué
37th	Oct	2006	Nadi	Fiji	Forum Communiqué
36th	Oct	2005	Port Moresby (retreat in Madang)	Papua New Guinea	Forum Communiqué
35th	Aug	2004	Apia	Samoa	Forum Communique
	April	2004	Auckland	New Zealand	Special Leaders' Retreat, Declaration and leaders' Decisions The Auckland Declaration
34th	Aug	2003	Auckland	New Zealand	Forum Communique (pdf)
33rd	Aug	2002	Suva	Fiji Islands	Forum Communique (html) Forum Communique (pdf)
32nd	Aug	2001	Nauru	Republic of Nauru	Forum Communique (html) Forum Communique (pdf)
31st	Oct	2000	Tarawa	Republic of Kiribati	Forum Communique (html) Forum Communique (pdf)
30th	Oct	1999	Koror	Republic of Palau	Forum Communique (html) Forum Communique (pdf)
29th	Aug	1998	Pohnpei	Federated States of Micronesia	Forum Communique (html) Forum Communique (pdf)
28th	Sep	1997	Rarotonga	Cook Islands	Forum Communique (html) Annex 1 \| Annex 2 \| Annex 3
27th	Sep	1996	Majuro	Republic of the Marshall Islands
26th	Sep	1995	Madang	Papua New Guinea
25th	Aug	1994	Brisbane	Australia
24th	Aug	1993	Nauru
23rd	Jul	1992	Honiara	Solomon Islands
22nd	Jul	1991	Pohnpei	Federated States of Micronesia
21st	Aug	1990	Port Vila	Vanuatu
20th	Jul	1989	Tarawa	Republic of Kiribati
19th	Sep	1988	Nuku' alofa	Tonga
18th	May	1987	Apia	Western Samoa
17th	Aug	1986	Suva	Fiji
16th	Aug	1985	Rarotonga	Cook Islands
15th	Aug	1984	Funafuti	Tuvalu
14th	Aug	1983	Canberra	Australia
13th	Aug	1982	Rotorua	New Zealand
12th	Aug	1981	Port Vila	Vanuatu
11th	Jul	1980	Tarawa	Repulic of Kiribati
10th	Jul	1979	Honiara	Solomon Islands
9th	Sep	1978	Alofi	Niue
8th	Aug	1977	Port Moresby	Papua New Guinea
7th	Jul	1976	Nauru
6th	Jul	1975	Nuku' alofa	Tonga
5th	Mar	1974	Rarotonga	Cook Islands
4th	Apr	1973	Apia	Western Samoa
3rd	Sep	1972	Suva	Fiji
2nd	Feb	1972	Canberra	Australia
1st	Aug	1971	Wellington	New Zealand

Forum Foreign Affairs Ministers met in Sydney on 30 June 2003 to endorse regional assistance to Solomon Islands - see the meeting's Outcome Statement.

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: Greg Urwin - Australia

Budget (2006): F$36 million

Australian contribution: $3 million (2006)

This support includes Australia's assessed contribution as a member of the Pacific Islands Forum, as well as program funding for undertaking activities in line with the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Corporate Plan. This contributes to supporting the PIFS implement decisions by Forum leaders, facilitating the delivery of development assistance to member states, providing coordination for the implementation of the Pacific Plan, and undertaking the political and legal mandates of Forum meetings.

Members: Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.

Contact Details for Further 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