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Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Chairman and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown (left) and PIF Secretary General Baron Waqa at the PIF Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Suva.
photo: Caleb Fotheringham
The high-level Pacific delegation to New Caledonia will be led by three people and is expected to travel before the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders (PIF) meeting in Tonga on August 26, said Pacific Islands Forum Leaders (PIF) Chairman Mark Brown.
Brown, who is also the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, made the comments at a Pacific Islands Forum foreign ministers’ meeting on Friday, which was attended by French President Emmanuel Macron. Approve the task.
“It is important that everyone assesses the situation together with France,” French ambassador to the Pacific Véronique Roger-Lacan told RNZ Pacific on Friday.
Brown said Tonga’s Prime Minister Huakavameliku Shosi-Sovaleni might not travel with the group “because of unfinished preparations for the leaders’ meeting”.
“In that case, the incoming Troika member, Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands (Jeremiah Menele), would be the next in line,” he said.
“A three-member delegation will lead the mission to New Caledonia and the mission is expected to be completed before the leaders’ meeting at the end of this month.”
Brown and Fijian Prime Minister Sitiweni Rabuka will both take part in the visit.
“The Forum attaches great importance to the nature of New Caledonia’s relations with France as a member of the Forum, and also to New Caledonia’s current relations with France as a French territory.
“There are sensitive political aspects that have to be considered, but we believe that as a forum we must first work to reduce the violence that has occurred over the past few months and call for dialogue to move forward.”
He said the decision on travel timings lies with the Troika members – the current president, the past president and the incoming president.
Meanwhile, New Zealand Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said before the French announcement that what role New Zealand would play in the New Caledonia mission was yet to be determined.
“We are very concerned about ensuring that the long-term outcome is a peaceful resolution, but also that it is important to ensure that the economy of New Caledonia can continue to grow,” he said.
Peters said he expected that over time, there would be multiple delegations to New Caledonia.
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