The 22nd Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders meeting started today in Port Villa, Vanuatu after five years of hiatus due to Covid 19.
Earlier this week, other meetings like Senior Officials Meeting and Foreign Ministers Meeting were held as a lead to the MSG leaders meeting today.
All Melanesian countries head and senior government officials convened for this important meeting including Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape, who arrived in Port Villa yesterday evening.
The 22nd MSG leaders’ summit is themed “Being Relevant and Influential”, as it takes on shared development issues and common challenges confronting MSG member states of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and FLNKS (Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front), including Indonesia as an Associate Member.
During the Foreign Minister Meeting (FMM) on Monday 21st of August, each country gave their statements before having in-depth discussions on environment and climate change, security issues, and trade agreements, besides an operational report from the MSG Secretariat.
Vice Minister assisting the Prime Minister on State Matters Muguwa Dilu, is representing Papua New Guinea and gave the opening statement.
“We must take ownership of development issues and provide leadership in pursuing the objectives of the MSG. This effort must begin with making sure the Secretariat concentrates on its core business, and that resources are expanded equitably across important sectors of the MSG countries. Hence, the theme resonates well, the need for the MSG to remain focused and bolster the efforts towards the common goal of building a stronger and resilient MSG family that is responsive to the needs and aspirations of its people,” Dilu said.
“MSG must provide market opportunities, empower its people and strategically open up the MSG region, wherever possible to the world to seize economic opportunities to building back better economic resilience post COVID-19 through strategic economic partnership,” he said.
The Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) held on Friday, 18th of August 2023 deliberated on the agenda before presenting the outcomes to the FMM for endorsement and presentation to the leaders on Wednesday.
An Outcomes Declarations will be signed at the end of the week by the leaders, including a Declaration on Climate Change and Concord for Peace, Mutual Respect, Cooperation and Amity.
