The Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting kicked off on Monday in Tonga, bringing together leaders of the 18 members of Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and the body’s dialogue partners for a week of meetings on issues including responses to climate change and the China-U.S. battle for influence over the strategic region.
Mark Brown, outgoing chairman and prime minister of the Cook Islands, will hand leadership to Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni, whose government scrambled to get the capital Nuku’alofa ready for the more than 1,000 expected participants. Here are five things to know about the gathering:
The agenda is full of high-stakes challenges
The PIF, established in 1971, is the main political decision-making body for the region. Its members are facing “demographic and economic stresses” that have “never been higher” amid “intense geopolitical rivalry,” said Mihai Sora, director of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Program.
“The international scrutiny and interest in the Pacific is massive, and leaders are under pressure from their own communities to deliver something tangible out of this meeting,” he said, listing climate change, transnational crime and economic challenges as key issues.
PIF members are grappling with rising sea levels and intensifying natural disasters, while warming oceans are affecting fish stocks and causing coral bleaching. PIF members are seeking more support in addressing these challenges, Sora said.
Countries in the region have been pushing to raise funds for a Pacific-led climate change finance initiative. The Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF) is currently $380 million short of its $500 million target. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who is attending the meeting, has reportedly vowed to organize a pledging event in New York.
Nikkei Asia has contacted Guterres’s office seeking comment.
The PIF will vote on plans to host the PRF in Tonga. “This one is very, very important to the Pacific and it should be important to all international partners that see themselves as having a role to play in protecting and securing the Pacific,” Sora said.
