15 December 2010: Andris Piebalgs, EU Commissioner for Development, and Tuiloma Neroni Slade, Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, launched a “Joint Pacific-EU Initiative on Climate Change” to mobilize EU member States and international partners to jointly support the reinforcement of Pacific countries’ capacity to address the impacts of climate change more efficiently.

The initiative aims to ensure that a fair share of international climate change funding is channeled to Pacific countries. It will build on a Memorandum of Understanding, followed by a joint plan for action that is expected to be elaborated by the European Commission and the Forum Secretariat (PIFS) together with their respective member States, institutions, civil society and private sector. The joint plan of action is expected to be discussed at a regional high-level climate change conference in 2011. [EU Press Release] [PIFS Press Release]