PREPARATIONS for the country’s hosting of the 54th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting (PIFLM) in Honiara next September will commence after the Cabinet’s endorsement of a paper to be jointly submitted by the Office of the Prime Minister & Cabinet and the Ministry of Finance and Treasury (MoFT).
This was announced by Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele at a press conference on Sunday upon his return from the 53rd PIFLM in Nukualofa, Tonga.
The 54th PIFLM will be held from September 8 to 12 in 2025.
The hosting of the 54th PIFLM by Solomon Islands was endorsed by PIF leaders last week in Tonga.
PM Manele said the paper to be submitted to Cabinet will be on the establishment of the 54th PIFLM organizing committee to be co-chaired by OPMC and MoFT, with a membership drawn from other Government Ministries, the Private Sector, Churches and Civil Society Organizations with terms of reference to commence the preparatory work.
He said the two ministries will work on the joint paper for Cabinet deliberation and endorsement to kick start preparations and work on factoring the costs into next year’s national budget.
“The arrangements for the meeting, meeting venues, both plenary and retreat, accommodation arrangements. All these arrangements will be looked at by the taskforce,” PM Manele said.
PM Manele said he is confident about Solomon Islands well-delivering the next PIFLM.
“We are confident to host the 54th PIFLM in the country. I think we have a good history of delivering in terms of such big events like what we did with the Pacific Games last year.
“We have a lot of experience to draw from. Also, we’ve seen how Tonga hosted the recent 53rd PIFLM. We’ve also picked up on many areas that will assist us in our own hosting.
“Therefore, I’m confident we will match those preparations for the successful meeting delivered by Tonga or do even better,” PM Manele said.
PM Manele congratulated his Tongan counterpart PM Hu’akaveiliku for chairing this year’s PIFLM with excellence.
The PIFLM is the highest regional meeting convened each year for the discussion of regional issues.
It is anticipated that the hosting of the PIFLM will slowly transition into a rotational format between the Pacific subregions of Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia in the near future.
By AGNES MENANOPO
Solomon Star, Honiara
