PRESS STATEMENT - Tuesday, 27 April, 2010 - Government representatives and development partners in Kiribati have expressed appreciation for the Cairns Compact Peer Review currently underway in the country's capital, Tarawa.

The Peer Review team will meet this week with representatives from various Government Ministries, Development Partners, NGOs and the private sector to discuss means of improving development coordination.

"We are very keen to find better ways of engaging with our donors," said Kiribati's Secretary for Finance, Atanteora Beiatau, during his meeting with the review team.

"We acknowledge our capacity constraints and would also like to see donors coordinating among themselves."

Mr Beiatau welcomed the review team to Kiribati, stressing he was very keen to see the outcomes of this important exercise.

The Peer Review team has so far met with representatives from Kiribati's Planning and Statistics Departments, diplomatic corps, United Nations Joint Presence Office and European Union KiriEU project.

The Peer Review exercise is an initiative under the Cairns Compact on Strengthening Development Coordination, endorsed by Pacific Islands Forum Leaders at their summit last August. The review seeks to assess harmonisation between the Kiribati Development Plan, associated budgeting processes and donor activity.

The Peer Review team comprises representatives from Papua New Guinea as a fellow Forum Island Country neighbour, and New Zealand as a development partner. The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat provides the team with logistical and coordination support.