2050 Strategy Senior Officials Workshop
Opening Remarks delivered by the Pacific Islands Forum, Deputy Secretary General Esala Nayasi
PIF Secretariat, Suva
10 July 2023
Bula Vinaka senior officials
Distinguished delegates
Good morning, everyone and welcome to the Secretariat.
I am honoured to be here today as your Deputy Secretary General and humbled to be here as someone who very recently served as a member representative to the Forum.
I know that many of you are here today because you have a deep commitment to the Pacific region and our people. I share that commitment, and I am grateful for the opportunity to work with you for a better Blue Pacific Continent.
I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of Senior Officials from across the membership who have dedicated time and resources to this work over the last few months leading our Multi-Stakeholder Expert Groups to the work we will see today.
I also express my appreciation to our partners, civil society organisations and our private sector who have also been engaged in the development of the 2050 strategy implementation plan. I know it has been a mammoth undertaking. At the same time, I also recognize that through this journey, there is a lot that we have discovered about the region and how our work can positively influence the realization of the Leaders vision and our peoples’ aspirations.
For many of us, this journey began in 2019 in Tuvalu, where leaders recognized the need for a long-term strategy to address climate change related impacts, regional security, geostrategic competition, and other challenges. Now this is endorsed, we now need to ensure it is effectively implemented, so I look forward to listening to you and working with you to progress work on the implementation plan and monitoring and evaluation approach, as essential tools for ensuring the 2050 is a success.
Excellencies, Senior Officials and Partners - the implementation plan will set out the specific steps and regional actions that need to be taken into consideration to implement the 2050 strategy. The monitoring and evaluation approach will ensure that we are tracking progress and making sure that the 2050 approach is on track to achieve its goals.
This workshop is therefore an important opportunity for us to come together and discuss how we can make the 2050 a reality through the leadership of our member countries in forging a collective way forward for our Pacific region.
Through the process that we have followed, the different MSEGs have met and have come up with the goals, outcomes and possible collective actions for the thematic areas of the Strategy to inform the Implementation Plan. Accordingly, this three days workshop is critically important in consolidating the MSEGs work that will then provide clarity for us as we move forward towards the remainder of the process.
With that, Members, I look forward to working closely with you in the next three days and in the coming month as we finalise the implementation plan for our Leader’s consideration in November at their meeting in Cook Islands.
Vinaka vakalevu and wish you all well.
[ENDS]
