As Chair and host of this year’s 53rd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, it gives me great pleasure to extend a warm ‘Malo e lelei’ to my fellow Pacific Leaders and your delegations; Forum Dialogue partners; and all friends of the ‘Pasifiki’ – our Blue Pacific Continent – as you prepare for your journey to ‘where time begins’, in the Kingdom of Tonga, also known as the ‘Friendly Islands’, for PIFLM53.
The fakatapu, traditional chant that I opened with is a call from our ‘our nation, welcoming you, our people, to our shores and to the place we will meet –in Tonga, the crown jewels of the Pacific, from 26-30 August 2024.
As a founding member of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), the Kingdom of Tonga, remains deeply committed to a united region, guided by our 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent vision for our future.
PIFLM53 will ensure that the vision for a region of peace, harmony, security, social inclusion and prosperity, a Transformative Resilient Pasifiki, for our Pacific people to lead free, healthy and productive lives, can only be realized, if we ‘Build a Better Now’ as we embark on our first year of implementation of our region’s 2050 Strategy and year of transformation.
Faka’apa’apa atu
Hon. Hu’akavameiliku (Siaosi Sovaleni)
Prime Minister of Tonga
Chair of the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum
