31 July 2014: The 45th meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) focused on the role the Forum can play in the post-2015 development agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), calling for an achievable, limited number of SDGs with clear and relevant targets.

At the meeting, participants endorsed the Framework for Pacific Regionalism following the decision taken at the Special Leaders Retreat on the Pacific Plan Review on 5 May 2014, in Rarotonga, the Cook Islands, to re-cast the Pacific Plan as the new Framework. They further endorsed the 2014 Pacific Regional Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Tracking Report and the 2014 Tracking the Effectiveness of Development Efforts in the Pacific Report, acknowledging Forum Island Countries’ (FICs) progress towards the MDGs. Participants reiterated the importance of member countries playing an active role in shaping the post-2015 development agenda, particularly the SDGs, emphasizing the importance of incorporating the “unfinished business” of the MDGs in the SDGs, reflecting the special circumstances of small island developing States (SIDS) as a cross-cutting issue.

Participants highlighted the Forum Compact on Strengthening Development Coordination in the Pacific as a successful partnership to be showcased at the Third International Conference on SIDS to be held in Apia, Samoa, from 1-4 September 2014, and supported the launch of the National Sustainable Development Strategy Partnership Group, the Pacific Ocean Alliance and the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) Partnership at the SIDS Conference.

Participants also addressed, inter alia: oceans; invasive species; Fiji’s readmission to the Forum; Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI); radioactive contaminants in the Marshall Islands; private sector dialogue; the EU-African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP) Summit; and Dame Meg Taylor’s appointment as the first female Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. In addition, Australia announced, and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) welcomed, an AU$9.6 million funding package to support the sustainable management and conservation of oceanic and coastal Pacific fisheries resources.

The 45th meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum was held in Koror, Palau, from 29-31 July 2014. [Pacific Islands Forum Communique] [Remarks of Outgoing Chair] [Press release on Meg Taylor] [Press release on Smaller Island States meeting] [Press release on NCD] [Message of the UN Secretary-General] [Press release on Australia funds for Pacific fisheries]