Solomon Islands Prime Minister, the Hon Manasseh Damukana Sogavare was accorded a red carpet welcome on his arrival in Suva Fiji over the weekend.

The Hon Manasseh Sogavare led a delegation to the 51st Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji that will begin on 11th and end on the 14th of July.

Among his engagements since arriving on Sunday 10th July, the Prime Minister visited the Solomon Islands High Commission Office in Suva where he was briefed on the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting.

The Prime Minister and his delegation also took time out to visit a piece of land (almost the size of Lawson Tama field) at Nasese coast ear-marked for the country’s chancery office.

Sogavare this week will join other Leaders of Pacific Forum nations in Fiji to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Pacific Islands Forum.

The Leaders are expected to launch the ‘2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent’ which provides the blue print for regional cooperation and coordination within and among Forum members going into the future.

Among the many agendas Forum Leaders will consider is the reform of the Pacific Islands Forum to promote unity and strengthen cooperation and collaboration among and between the members of the Forum family.

Prime Minister Sogavare is also expected to sign a bilateral agreement with Prime Minister Bainimarama of Fiji on the shared maritime boundaries between Solomon Islands and Fiji at the margins of the Forum.

A Special MSG Summit is also expected to be held during the course of this week.

Prime Minister Sogavare will be joined by Foreign Minister Hon Jeremiah Manele, who is also in Fiji attending the Forum Foreign Minister’s Meeting on Friday 8 July ahead of the PIF Leaders’ Summit, and Minister of National Planning and Development Coordination, Hon. Rex Ramofafia and several senior officials.

The Prime Minister’s delegation is expected back in the country on 15 July 2022. 

 

Source: Press Release, Government Communications Unit