Asia Times: Special meeting of Pacific leaders this week in Honolulu



	March 14, 2000	atimes.com

Oceania

Special meeting of Pacific leaders this week in Honolulu
By Al Hulsen

HONOLULU, Hawaii - The President of Fiji, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, will convene a special meeting of the Standing Committee of the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders (PICL) Thursday at Honolulu's East-West Center.

Among the key matters to be considered during the two-day session is the preparation of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) outlining the PICL's formal relationship with the East-West Center and its Pacific Islands Development Program (PIDP).

Other agenda items include development of a strategic plan for PIDP and the economic and social development work that it should perform on behalf of the Pacific Islands region.

PIDP, whose director is Dr Sitiveni Halapua, serves as secretariat for the conference.

Halapua said President Mara, one of the founders of the Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders in 1980, agreed to convene the special meeting in the absence of a current chairman. ''The previous PICL chairman and vice chairman were former Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka and former Tonga Prime Minister Baron Vaea, respectively,'' he said.

This week's meeting will also make decisions on where and when, later this year, the full Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders, representing 20 countries and states in the region, will meet. ''At that time,'' Halapua said, ''the organization's next officers will be elected.

''The total membership will also consider formally approving the MoU with the East-West Center and the PIDP strategic plan.''

Among those leaders confirmed to attend this week's special meeting of the Standing Committee, in addition to President Mara, are:

Dr Terepai Maoate, Prime Minister of the Cook Islands
Leo A. Falcam, President of the Federated States of Micronesia
Mahendra Chaudhry, Prime Minister of Fiji
Teburoro Tito, President of Kiribati
'Ulukalala Lavaka Ata, Prime Minister of Tonga
Ionatana Ionatana, Prime Minister of Tuvalu

The leaders' first formal session is scheduled to take place at the East-West Center's Imin International Conference Center Thursday, March 16, at 2pm.

Report supplied by Pacific Islands Report, a service of the East-West Center and the University of Hawaii. For news in depth, link to the PIR website: http://pidp.ewc.hawaii.edu/pireport