The outgoing Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum has welcomed Fiji's decision to review a 2005 revision of the body's founding agreement.
Pacific Islands Forum Secretary-General Dame Meg Taylor (centre), her deputy Drl Filimon Manoni (right) and PIFS' Political Issues Advisor Alifeleti Soakai make a submission via virtual conference toFiji's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence. Photo: Supplied/PIFS
Earlier this month, Fiji's Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence was tasked to look at the 2005 document.
Dame Meg Taylor and her deputy Dr Filimon Manoni appeared virtually before a five-member panel of the Fiji committee after the government endorsed a proposal to ratify the agreement.
Dame Meg said Fiji's ratification would represent a significant milestone in the forum family and fasten the bridges that had been rebuilt within the forum, and the regional relations strengthened over the years.
The former Papua New Guinea diplomat presented a historical overview of the forum which she said had gone through name changes, increase in membership and key milestones such as the UNCLOS, decolonization, regional trade and the Rarotonga Treaty.
"Fiji's ratification will be significant for the region as it is the final act required to bring into force the 2005 Agreement, and thus set in motion the next chapter of the forum," she said.
Dame Meg leaves the Secretariat in April and will be replaced by former Cook Islands Prime Minister Henry Puna.
The Forum has been rocked with tensions rising after five Micronesian leaders threatened they would withdraw from the regional body after their candidate failed to get the secretary-general position.
During elections last month, the Marshall Islands' diplomat Gerald Zackios was passed-over in favour of Puna.
It is not clear whether Fiji's move to review the treaty stems from the current stand-off.
But in a communiqué, the presidents of Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and Palau insisted the Forum honour an unwritten gentleman's agreement to rotate the secretary-general role by sub-region.
Only Kiribati has held the role in the eight terms since Micronesian countries joined the Forum. And that was from 1992-98 when the country's first President Ieremia Tabai was appointed.
The secretary-general is the chief executive officer of the Pacific Islands Forum and is responsible for the management of the secretariat based in Suva.