Administrative heads of the Pacific Islands Forum and the Pacific Islands Development Forum have held their first ever meeting yesterday – two years after Fiji set up the PIDF.
The PIDF’s Interim Secretary General, Amena Yauvoli, said after talks with the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Dame Meg Taylor that this ushers in a new chapter in regional cooperation.
Speaking to Radio New Zealand, Yauvoli says they agreed to work collaboratively and hold more such meetings between their two Suva-based organizations in the future.
Fiji set up the PIDF after it was suspended from the Forum in 2009 because the Fiji regime had reneged on a promise to return the country to democracy.
After last year’s election, Fiji’s suspension was lifted but Fiji decided to stay outside because it objects to the Forum membership status of Australia and New Zealand.
