Waqa, a former Nauru president is the first Nauruan national to assume the top job at the Forum.

He began his tenure last week and was welcomed during a special ceremony on Thursday night in Suva.

Rabuka said Waqa would serve the region and the Pacific people well, given his wealth of experience.

“As one who has held multiple leadership roles at the national, regional and global levels, we are assured that you are well equipped to take on this role and that you will lead us well,” he said.

“We believe that you will serve our region and our Pacific people and with the vast experience that you bring, we are confident that our Blue Pacific is in safe hands.”

Rabuka said the region continued to be confronted with multidimensional challenges and stressed that climate change remained the region’s “greatest threat impacting our ability to meet our development aspirations”.

Increased urgency
He added there was an increased urgency to act collectively to progress shared priorities and goals as outlined in the 2050 Strategy.

“We have laid out our pathway through the 2050 Strategy with its implementation plan. It is now in your hands. We hold high expectations because we know that you are more than able.”

Since taking up office, Waqa has already made his first official regional trip to the Solomon Islands, meeting with Prime Minister Jeremaiah Manele and his foreign minister Peter Agovaka on June 10.

“One of my key priorities as Secretary-General is to continue to strengthen our solidarity as a Pacific family,” he said.

“We look forward to working with Prime Minister Manele to build our one Blue Pacific continent and improve the lives of all Pacific people.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

The Pacific Islands Forum has launched a new longterm strategy to address present and future challenges faced by Pacific peoples.

The “2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent” was endorsed by regional heads of governments as the curtains fell on the 51st Forum Leaders’ summit in Suva.

“As Pacific leaders, our vision is for a resilient Pacific region of peace, harmony, security, social inclusion and prosperity, that ensures all Pacific peoples can lead free, healthy and productive lives,” the 2050 strategy’s leaders’ vision states.

Forum chair and Fiji’s Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama said the new regional blueprint “is about who we are”.

“The 2050 Strategy is about what we share in common, our challenges and our opportunities about what we need to do together. This is why the 2050 Strategy focuses on our people,” Bainimarama said.

“It is our people who have sent us here to deliberate on their behalf and we owe them strategic response to their greatest challenges especially our youth, our children and grandchildren, who will inherit this strategy and our collective ambitions.”

Bainimarama said the “climate crisis, socio-economic development challenges, slow economic growth and geopolitical competition” were major issues faced by the region”.

‘Must work together’
“We must work together. The 2050 Strategy will serve as our guide for the decades to come, setting out our longterm vision, key value to guide us and key thematic areas and strategic pathways that will pave our shared trajectory as a region.”

He also acknowledged that successful implementation of the strategy will require that “our dialogue and development partners, regional agencies, and international agencies understand and align their development plans to the strategy and engage with us on this basis”.

According to the strategy, the Blue Pacific is about Pacific peoples, their faiths, cultural values, and traditional knowledge.

The 36-page document outlines 10 commitments across seven interconnected thematic areas most crucial for the sustainable longterm development of the region.

The focus areas include political leadership and regionalism, people-centred development, peace and security, resource and economic development, climate change and disasters, ocean and environment, and technology and connectivity.

Forum Secretary-General Henry Puna said the new plan was about Pacific regionalism “which is not an easy thing to progress”.

“Pacific regionalism is more than a set of activities,” Puna said.

“It is vital that the 2050 Strategy guide our collective activities and actions as we address our challenges and exploit our strengths and our opportunities.”

With the 2015 strategy now endorsed, the forum will focus on its delivery and implementation.

“My promise is to ensure that we take the strategy forward as it is intended,” Puna said.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz