Tonga's Prime Minister, Hon. Hu’akavameiliku spoke as President of the sixth session of the SIDS DOCK Assembly in Lisbon, Portugal on 29 June.

SIDS DOCK is a United Nations (UN)-recognised international organisation established in 2015, with all the rights and privileges for addressing climate change, resilience, and energy security in small islands.

It represents 32 small islands and low-lying developing states across the globe, and is so named because it is designed as a “DOCKing station,” to connect the energy sector in SIDS with the global markets for finance and sustainable energy technologies.

The organisation’s work is coordinated by the Secretariat, in Belmopan, Belize. The Kingdom of Tonga currently holds the Presidency of the SIDS DOCK Assembly.

The meeting took place as a side event on the Launch of the Global Ocean Energy Alliance: Ocean Energy for Climate Resilient Economies, on the margins of the United Nations (UN) Ocean Conference.

The side event demonstrated the potential of Ocean Energy and its high relevance to Small Island Developing States (SIDS), Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and coastal cities, and the commercial-scale deployment of ocean-based energy technologies appropriate to the SIDS for the development of a Blue Economy.

Hon. Hu'akavameiliku said that the Government of Tonga is working on establishing a partnership with the Global Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion platform, on development of the world’s first Pilot 1.5-megawatt (MW) Floating OT.

The Chief Secretary and Secretary to Cabinet, Edgar Cocker, and the Kingdom of Tonga’s Permanent Representative and Ambassador to the United Nations, Mr. Viliami Va’inga Tōnē will lead this partnership on behalf of the Government.

Ambassador Tōnē, on behalf of the Kingdom of Tonga, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to Cooperate on Ocean Energy and Hosting of the Interim Secretariat of the Global Ocean Energy Alliance (GLOEA).

He is the new Chair of the SIDS DOCK Executive Council.

SIDS DOCK was established in 2015 and is a United Nations recognised international organisation with all the privileges and rights to address climate change and energy security in SIDS.