PRIME Minister Manasseh Sogavare is the new Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF) Chair after accepting the chairmanship role on Wednesday in Honiara.
Sogavare as the new PIDF chair presents a gift to the outgoing PIDF chair, Prime Minister Bainimarama of Fiji, to symbolize his acceptance of the PIDF chairmanship role and acknowledgment of the work done by his predecessor during his three-year term in office.
The new PIDF chair consented the chairmanship with great humility and with a heavy sense of responsibility as he accepted the challenges of chairing the PIDF in the next two years.
In his acceptance speech as the new Chair of the PIDF on Wednesday, Sogavare said, “I am glad to be standing in front of prominent Pacific Islanders Leaders at this 2016 Pacific Island Development Forum Leaders’ Summit in Honiara, Solomon Islands.
“I stand with great humility and with a heavy sense of responsibility as I accept the challenge of chairing the PIDF in the next 2-years. Your presence underlines this challenging task that the Solomon Islands accept,” he said.
He told prominent Pacific Islanders leaders at the summit that their presence is the manifestation of their commitments to the shared vision of the PIDF Charter.
“Your presence is also the manifestation of your commitments to the shared vision of the PIDF Charter.
“Your continuous support for the work of the PIDF has been paying off and has already accomplished some notable results as mentioned by the Out-going Chair.
“These achievements we can all claim ownership for, and identify ourselves with its accomplishments,” he said.
“We come here to discuss existential matters… matters that actually matter. They matter to us as leaders, to our people, our economies and the environment that sustains us.
“In the Pacific we are in some ways lucky we still live close to nature. We understand first-hand the intricate linkages between nature and our livelihoods.
“We also know the power of nature, especially increasing levels of the frequency and severity of natural disasters.
“The devastation of Tropical Cyclone Winston is still fresh on our minds,” the new PIDF chair said.
He said that despite natural environmental degradations, we know the balance that is needed so that our children and their children keep reaping the benefits that nature’s bounty bestows on us.
“As good stewards of nature we need to make sure this balance is not disrupted, and where it is being disrupted we need to adopt recovery measures, because nature’s bounty is not guaranteed indefinitely.”
The new chair also uses the occasion to elevate two issues that deserves the attention of the PIDF gathering.
The two issues are resettlement of the Pacific Islands people from sea level rise (climate change) and Cotonou Agreement.
“At this juncture, allow me to place 2 key issues that I feel deserves the attention of this august gathering and that our organisation, is the best platform to engage on these issues of critical importance to our region.
“First is the issue of the resettlement of our Pacific Islands people as a result of sea level rise in our region.
“Distinguished colleagues, this issue cannot be dealt with solely at programmatic level within the many regional bodies that are present with us today; neither can it be reworked by our respective national agencies,” he said.
“In my view the issue of the adverse effects of climate change needs political will and concerted leadership.
“The PIDF is uniquely placed to offer this space political commitment and concerted leadership.
“The nexus between political commitment, concerted leadership, technical knowhow and innovative solution is present within the PIDF. This mix can be blended and brought together to deal with this pressing issue of climate change.
“I have observed that our development partners, some of them are in this room, in particular UNESCAP and the EU have made genuine progress on this issue of climate change and the PIDF, under my Chairmanship will ride on the bandwagon of their partnership in this strategic approach,” Sogavare said.
“Secondly, distinguished colleagues, we know that one key partnership agreement with a key partner in the region will come to an end in 2020.
“By this I mean to say the EU-ACP Development Cooperation Agreement more commonly known as the Cotonou Agreement.
“We need to begin consultations on what type of an agreement do we want with the EU beyond 2020. Let us not fool ourselves by procrastinating, 2020 is just around the corner.
“Whilst we do have historical ties with the EU, the recent referendum in England may perhaps be the canary in the coal mine that infers that such historical relationships cannot be the sole rationale for such partnerships.
“We therefore need to take the initiative to begin discussion on the platform of the PIDF and determine the type of partnership we wish to foster with the EU.
“I would like to lead the PIDF to provide leadership in the consultations as we engage ourselves in the mainstream of climate change mitigation and adaptation,” he stressed.
“Distinguished colleagues, time is not on our side. On such engagements, we need to be strategic and give political impetus to climate change and post Cotonou discussions. I am convinced that, if we can come together as a region to address the resettlement of our peoples we will show the world that we are part of the global solution and not merely victims of the inactions of developed countries.
“Let us build on our Suva Declaration on Climate Change and consider how we might improve on mechanisms and linkages that will reduce the risks that we are facing now and beyond.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, as your New Chair for PIDF I am confident on us that our actions and decisions that we make will result on stronger and more effective Pacific Islands Development Forum,” he said.
By STEPHEN DIISANGO
