06/11/2012 12:04

 

Fiji has endorsed the Samoan Government’s hosting of the Small Island Developing States Global Conference in 2014.

At a New York reception held at the Fiji Mission to the United Nations in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly, the Prime Minister of Samoa, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Fiji, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, in the presence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Nauru, Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Papua New Guinea, Chair of the Pacific Small Island Developing States (PSIDS) and other Pacific representatives, agreed that Samoa will host the SIDS Global Conference in 2014 and Fiji will host the preparatory meetings for the conference.
Ratu Inoke said Fiji’s endorsement of Samoa as host of the SIDS Global Conference was made in the spirit of solidarity and mutual support that exists within PSIDS. He said Fiji had every confidence Samoa would host a conference that would prove to be a landmark in SIDS development.
PM Tuilaepa thanked Fiji for its understanding and support. He said the agreement demonstrated the long-standing tradition of Pacific Island countries being always ready to cooperate in the Pacific Way.
He also congratulated Fiji for its assumption of the Chairmanship of the Group of 77 and China in 2013, an honour the Pacific region should justifiably be proud of.
The first SIDS Global Conference was held in Barbados in 1994, with the second one in Mauritius in 2005. At the UN’s Sustainable Development Conference in Rio de Janeiro in June, 2012, it was agreed the third SIDS Global Conference would be held in the Pacific Region in 2014.
SIDS (Small Island Developing States) are recognised as a distinct group of developing countries facing specific social, economic and environmental vulnerabilities.
This recognition was first made at the UNCED conference, also known as the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992.

-Source: Fiji Ministry of Information