Banimarama wants to attend Forum in Nuku'alofa [1]
Tuesday, July 17, 2007 - 17:58. Updated on Tuesday, July 21, 2015 - 11:08.
The Pacific Island Forum Leaders Meeting will be held in Nuku'alofa on October 15-18 with all 16 leaders expecting to attend including host country Tonga.
Paula Ma'u the Deputy Secretary of the Prime Minister's office said today that although they have not received any official confirmation from the 15 member countries on who will be attending but all leaders are expected to attend.
Paula said that for security reasons usually the countries do not release the names of those who will be attending the Forum meeting until a month before the meeting. However, he said the latest information received is that Commodore Banimarama has given indication that he is interested to attend the meeting.
He also clarified that a Forum member country can automatically attend the meeting, but the Tongan Prime Minister would still send out invitations to the country leaders.
The leader of a country can also send in a replacement whether it is his/her Deputy Prime Minister to attend the meeting if he/she will not be attending the Forum meeting.
Other countries will also be invited to the meeting but only on an observer status.
Paula said that the observer status countries had not yet confirmed their attendance but they are expecting the usual countries such as the French territories and American Samoa.