PIF ACKNOWLEDGED FINANCIAL PLEDGES TOWARDS PRF

PIF ACKNOWLEDGED FINANCIAL PLEDGES TOWARDS PRF

 

The 53^rd Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Tonga has ended with a 16 pages communique, the biggest takeaway of the communique is the financial commitments made to the Pacific Resilience Facility (PRF).

Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele MP and his counterparts have recognized the PRF as the “first Pacific-led, member-owned and managed and people-centred climate and disaster resilience financing facility”.

In the communique, the PIF leaders have warmly welcomed the commitment by Secretary General of the United Nation His Excellency (HE), Antonio Gueterras for the capitalization of the PRF.

The leaders have urged the Forum Dialogue Partners to pledge their contributions to PRF so that it can reach its target of USD500 million before the January 1^st, 2026. The longer term goal is to have $1.5 billion in capitalization.

Leaders have welcomed the previous commitments made by Australia (AUD$100 million), Saudi Arabia (USD$50 million), the People’s Republic of China (USD$500,000), and the United States (USD$5 million) in 2023.

The PIF leaders have also acknowledged and welcomed the pledge of AUD1 million by the Nauru Government. The funding will be phased over a period of five years. The leaders have further acknowledged technical assistance from United Kingdom valued at GBP1.3 million and an additional USD 20 million from the United States Government. All of these towards capitalization of the PRF.

PM Manele and his counterparts in the PIF have agreed that the Pacific Resilience Facility will be hosted by Tonga.

The 53^rd Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting in Tonga has come to an end after a week of plenaries with forum dialogue partners, Council of Regional Organizations of the Pacific (CROP) leaders, private sector leaders and the civil society.

Prime Minister honorable Jeremiah Manele participated in the plenaries and also took part in sidelines meetings with various stakeholders.

PM Manele also participated in the one day leaders’ retreat at Vava’u Island during which a number of issues were deliberated on by leaders.

For many keen followers of PIF meetings, the 53^rd PIF meeting in Tonga has been the most successful in that it was able to produce a joint communique overnight. There were some tweaks here and there, however, they have not consumed too much time like other PIF meetings in the past.

Solomon Islands was represented in the communique discussions and final write- ups by the Permanent Secretary of Foreign Affairs and External Trade (MFAET), Collin Beck.

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