Henry Puna, the former Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, will take over from Dame Meg Taylor as Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum in May, the PIF Secretariat confirmed.

Dame Meg Taylor, the current Secretary General, will remain in office until the end of April, Elesi Ravai, information management assistant at the Pacific islands Forum Secretariat, in Suva, Fiji, told Matangi Tonga this week.

In February Forum Leaders selected the new SG and praised Dame Meg, commending “her stellar leadership and guidance to the Pacific Islands Forum on regional issues over the past six years and wished her well in her future endeavours.”

Hon. Kausea Natano, the Forum Chair and the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, reported that the selection of Henry Puna as the new Secretary General was “a consensus decision following an agreed process at our Special Leaders’ Retreat on 3 February 2021.”

Puna was one of four contenders for the position of Secretary General. The other four were Marshall Islands Ambassador to the US, Gerald Zackios; Tonga's international civil servant and development economist, Amelia Kinahoi Siamomua; former Pacific Community (SPC) Secretary General, Solomon Islander Dr Jimmie Rodgers.

According to unofficial reports of the selection at the Special Leaders' Retreat, after the first round of voting, Cook Islands’ Henry Puna won with seven votes; second place went to the Micronesian countries’ candidate Gerald Zackios with six; Solomon Islands’ Jimmie Rodgers garnered three; and Tonga’s Amelia Kinahoi-Siamomua (the sole female candidate) only one.

First, Tonga withdrew its candidate, and then Solomon Islands. The final vote was not held till close to midnight, and Puna again won, with nine votes to Zackios’ eight.

However, the five Micronesian members of the Pacific Islands Forum, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru and Palau were reported to have been very disappointed with the outcome of the election, and insisted that it was the turn for the Pacific Islands Forum to have a Micronesian Secretary General.

They threatened to withdraw from the PIF if their candidate was not appointed as the new Secretary General.

The Pacific Islands Forum is the region’s premier political and economic policy organisation. Founded in 1971, it comprises 18 members: Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.