Pacific Islands Forum
The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF; German Pacific Island Forum ) is a Consultative Forum of the island states of the Pacific ( Oceania ) with the aim to promote cooperation in the political, economic and cultural fields.
The Forum met for the first time in August 1971 under the name of South Pacific Forum in Wellington ( New Zealand) together. The founding members were Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, New Zealand, Tonga and Samoa (formerly Western Samoa ). On the 30th Forum 1999 meeting in Koror ( Palau ) renamed the Pacific Islands Forum has decided to north of the Equator to respond to the expansion of the membership to states.
Significant results of the forum are negotiating various economic agreements and the negotiation of the Treaty of Rarotonga in 1985 and the deployment of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands in 2003. Due to its security activities, the General Assembly of the United Nations, the Pacific Islands Forum as a regional organization under Chapter VIII of the UN Charter recognized.
Structure
Each year, the Heads of State and Government of the forum states come together and discuss questions from the entire spectrum of political issues. This Leaders' Meetings are the highest decision- instance of the Forum process. They held each year in another Member State and are accompanied by, inter alia, meet the Pacific ACP countries and the so-called Smaller Islands States, a grouping of small island states within the forum. Following the Leaders' Meetings, consultations were held with the Post- Forum Dialogue Partners that serve to enhanced engagement with the region; these are currently China, the European Union, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, India, Thailand and Italy.
In addition to the Leaders' Meetings are numerous other meetings at ministerial level to forum process. They are empowered to take responsibility to promote common policies in their respective departmental areas and post appropriate resolutions. The leaders take the results of these meetings often only note, insofar as they do not see their own action. The ministerial meetings are especially prepared by further meetings on speakers level.
Administrative arm of the forum is the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, one - as opposed to the forum itself - International organization based in Suva ( Fiji). Predecessor of the Secretariat was on the 2nd Forum 1972 in Canberra ( Australia) based trading office. It took in November 1972 on his work. On the 4th Forum 1973 in Apia (Samoa), the Forum countries signed an international founding treaty, which marked the formal legal basis of the office with its entry into force. In the years 1991 and 2000 each signed new contracts through which the trade office was replaced by a South Pacific Forum Secretariat and then by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat today. As far as the Forum took up new members, this occurred successively in the respective Secretariat also contract; in some cases they were previously members of the Bureau and the Secretariat.
The Secretariat is headed by a Secretary. Who is elected for a term of three years by the Heads of State and Government of the forum and may be re-elected once. Penultimate Secretary General was in January 2004 Australian Greg Urwin. After eight months of illness, he died on August 9, 2008 in Apia in office. In May 2008, he announced his withdrawal from politics and leave the management of the business as his deputy. On the occasion of the 39th Forum meeting in Niue in 2008 chose the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum on August 21, 2008 Tuiloma Neroni Slade of Samoa as the new Secretary General. On 13 October 2008, he took office.
Forum and Secretariat are formally independent of each other. Although an on the 36th Forum 2005 in Port Moresby ( Papua New Guinea) signed contract provides for the merger of the two institutions, but its entry into force is pending.
Members
Members of the Pacific Islands Forum are all the 16 independent states of Oceania. The two French possessions Caledonia and French Polynesia are associate members; they do not enjoy voting rights.
After the Member State of Fiji is controlled since a coup in 2006 by a military government, the other members of the Pacific Islands Forum decided at a meeting on January 27, 2009 in Port Moresby unanimously to put the regime in Fiji a deadline, no later than 1 May 2009 to present a constructive plan for the timely return the country to democracy. After this deadline passed unheeded, Fiji's participation in the Forum on May 2, 2009, it was suspended. The Chairman of the Forum stressed that this action was not directed against the people of Fiji and that the country is one of the 16 members of the Forum remains, the current military government is excluded from active participation.
Forum meeting
In addition to the Annual General Forum meeting also extraordinary meetings are held as needed; However, these do not participate in the official count of the Forum meeting.