Nauru President & Forum Chair Baron Waqa meets with UNSG Antonio Guterres at PIFs in Suva, Fiji

Some member countries of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat continue to face challenges from their own allies.

President of Nauru and Forum Chair, Baron Waqa says there is no doubt that when it comes to climate change effects, small Pacific island states are more vulnerable than others.

Despite this, Waqa says forum countries continue to try to work together for a stronger Pacific position.

“The most vulnerable in the Pacific we know who those countries are and the bigger countries in the greater Pacific Islands Forum may have different attitudes towards that, but certainly we’re trying our best to sing from the same song sheet.”

With the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres in Fiji last week, Pacific Island Leaders were given a seat at the table to hold one on one deliberations.

Waqa stressed to the UNSG that at the Climate Action Summit scheduled for September, platitudes and repackaged commitments cannot be the substance of deliberations.

The Nauru President urged transformational change at scale and the need for courageous leaders prepared to deliver it.

Waqa adding that leader of the Pacific will commit to doing all they can to make the summit a global turning point for ambitious climate change action.