Short notice for the talk was the reason given by the government for the postponement of a consultative meeting.

The government was to have a consultative meeting with a delegation of the Pacific Islands Forum and the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands.

In a statement, Secretary to Prime Minister, Rence Sore, said the government was only notified of the Pacific Islands Forum-arranged meeting last weekend.

He said the meeting had to be put off for a later date to allow government ministries to prepare the government position on the various agendas for the tripartite consultative meeting.

Mr. Sore said it was the duty of the Government's Special Envoy to RAMSI, Michael Maina, to notify the government of such important meeting in good time to allow relevant government officials to prepare the position paper.

He explained that Cabinet has to endorse the government's position to the consultation before public officers can proceed into dialogue with the Pacific Islands Forum and RAMSI.

Mr. Sore said the position is yet to be endorsed, and "government officers will meet to look at relevant papers on the issues for discussion at the meeting to put together the government position paper before it will be submitted to cabinet for endorsement".

He said responsible government officers will soon be mobilized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to work on the document.

"The Minister for Foreign Affairs would be presenting this document to cabinet for approval upon its completion," Mr. Sore said.

The Secretary to the Prime Minister said issues to be discussed at the tripartite consultation included RAMSI's medium term strategy.

He said the RAMSI document was submitted to the government for comments.