23 June 2016: The Pacific Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Taskforce has begun drafting an outline of a ‘Pacific SDG Roadmap’ that will support regional actions towards implementing the SDGs in Pacific Island Countries.

The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) organized a meeting of the Pacific SDGs Taskforce, from 22-23 June 2016 in Suva, Fiji, bringing together member States, international development agencies and partners to consider joint implementation of the SDGs, the SAMOA Pathway, and the Framework for Pacific Regionalism. The draft outline produced by the Taskforce will be considered by Pacific Islands Forum leaders when they meet at the 47th Pacific Islands Forum in Pohnpei, the Federated States of Micronesia, from 7-11 September 2016.

The Pacific SDG Roadmap will identify steps towards: preparing regional indicators; organizing an integrated regional reporting process; assisting member States that request support for monitoring and reporting on implementation of the SDGs and the SAMOA Pathway in their respective countries; and supporting follow-up and review.

Cristelle Pratt, Deputy Secretary-General of PIFS, said the Roadmap could guide development assistance for implementing and reporting on the SDGs in terms of national development priorities.

In a press statement, the PIFS noted that Pacific Islands Forum leaders have committed to implementing the SDGs with particular attention to the region’s “unfinished business” on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and have called for an open and inclusive process to select SDG indicators that are relevant to the Pacific context.

The full version of the Roadmap will be discussed at the Pacific Regional SDGs Multi-stakeholder Consultation and Dialogue, which is expected to take place in February 2017. [PIFS Press Release] [PIFS Website]