OPENING REMARKS
Secretary General Henry Puna
BUDGET SESSION OF THE FOC
Main Conference Centre,
15 December 2023
• Excellencies
• Senior Officials
• Representatives of CROP agencies
• Ladies and gentlemen
• Bula vinaka to you all and welcome to this budget session of the Forum Officials Committee
• I recognise that it has been an intense week of meetings for most of you and I thank you all for investing the time and effort to be here to support the Secretariat in preparing for the year ahead.
• First and foremost, allow me to recognise and acknowledge the Government and people of the Cook Islands for their hosting of the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum and Related Meetings – meitaki ma’ata.
• Secondly, allow me to also recognise and congratulate the Government and people of Solomon Islands for the successful hosting of what was the largest Pacific Games convening in its history – tangio tu mas
• Indeed, 2023 has been a hectic and massive year for us, and especially so for the Secretariat.
• Under the leadership of the Forum Chair at the time, we saw the reinstatement of the solidarity of our Forum Family earlier this year – bringing to a close, what was a tumultuous period in our Forum History.
• Under the direction of Members, we convened two Leaders Meetings, 3 sessions of the FOC with this one to be our 4th session in 2023, numerous sub-committee meetings and working groups and supported 4 partner summitries.
• Through these member-driven processes, we concluded significant policies:
o the development of the 2050 Implementation Plan,
o the redesign of the Pacific Resilience Facility,
o the finalisation of the Declaration on Statehood,
o the development of the climate mobility framework,
….just to name a few
• As an organisation, 2023 has seen the formal separation of the Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner and more recently, in the last month, the establishment of the Pacific Resilience Facility.
• We have begun work on the review and refresh of our Strategic Plan through a change management process and we look forward to working through the Informal Work Group to ensure a member-driven and member-led process.
• We have begun the transition in our Executive Leadership Team, beginning with the onboarding of the new Deputy Secretary General in July. We have advertised the position for DSG – Governance just yesterday and will look to welcome the new DSG in the first quarter of 2024.
• Completing the transition at the Executive level will ofcourse be my departure in May 2024 and the onboarding of the new Secretary General.
• All in all, it has been a tremendous year – politically, organisationally and ofcourse in terms of policy development and strategic visioning.
• What we have achieved and progressed in 2023 would not have been possible without the leadership and support of our Member Governments – and for this, I thank you all – for your time and contributions to these regional processes.
• I recognise that we may not have met all the expectations of our Membership on all fronts and for this I seek your indulgence.
• We hear you and we will look to improve and strengthen our service delivery in the year to come – we have processes in place that will support this moving forward.
• As we look to the year ahead – we see a multitude of reviews and systems improvement processes underway, at the regional and organisational level.
• The endorsement of the 2050 Strategy and its implementation plan, provide the impetus to review and reset how and what we deliver and how we work together as a regional system to support your collective decisions.
• We are a region in transition in 2024. We are also an organisation in review.
• Change is not always easy, but it is necessary. And I am so pleased that we have designed and begun a change management process to ensure that we can meet and respond to your collective needs.
• 2024 will be an exciting year – together we will embark on a collaborative pathway to improve our regional system and our organisation.
• As with everything, to do so successfully will require trust and confidence in your Secretariat and the leadership of the Secretariat.
• Yes, we have much to improve on but I am confident that you will agree that we have processes in place now to address and improve the gaps and inefficiencies in our system.
• Finally, before I end, I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge especially the announcement by the Government of Australia on its commitment of a hundred million Australian dollars towards the capitalisation of the Pacific Resilience Facility – it is a timely signal to our partners around the world and I look forward to further commitments in the coming months.
• Indeed, the journey of the PRF is demonstrative of what we can achieve together if we continue to persist, learn, refine and improve our concepts and initiatives, as a region – and I thank all Member Governments for your ongoing contribution and support of this process.
• With those words, I thank you all again and I encourage you to work with us to better support you in the year to come.
• I thank you.–ENDS
