The Minister for Foreign Affairs today addressed a side event session organized by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and the African Union at the High Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness in Busan, South Korea.

Peter Shanel Agovaka is the Head of Solomon Islands delegation at the three-day forum in Korea.

The session convened at the margins of the main 4th High Level Forum was on the theme "Localizing the global agenda on Development Cooperation."

Foreign Minister Agovaka spoke on the regional dimension in strengthening mutual accountability in development cooperation in the Pacific Islands region.

He said development cooperation and Aid effectiveness in the Pacific Islands have been addressed in a number of key policy and strategy frameworks.

They include the Pacific Plan for strengthening regional cooperation and integration, The Pacific Aid Effectiveness principles, the Forum compact and strengthening development cooperation, and the Port Vila Declaration on accelerating progress of the MDGs.

The Foreign Minister highlighted that much of this work has been underpinned by many years of past and ongoing national and regional efforts by countries of the Pacific Islands Forum and their development partners.

A number of African leaders also spoke on the experiences of African states during the side line session.