Tonga's Prime Minister, Lord Tu'ivakano, and other Pacific Leaders met the US President Barack Obama, and the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Honolulu, Hawaii, while the President was in Hawaii for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2011 annual meeting from November12-20.

The Tongan Prime Minister's office in a statement, said that President Obama reminded the Pacific leaders that, "he was the first Polynesian and Pacific US President, having been born in Hawaii when his parents were studying at the East West Center."

In a separate meeting the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, assured Pacific Leaders of a renewed commitment by the US to the Pacific Island countries.

The leaders from Tonga, Papua New Guinea, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Cook Islands and Niue, also met Admiral Patrick Walsh, Commander of the Pacific Fleet and senior US military officers, to discuss a wide range of issues, from seabed mining, to non-communicable diseases, conflict resolution, climate change, energy, and fishing.

While in Honolulu the Lord Tu'ivakano and a member of parliament, Dr Sitiveni Halapua, met the Tongan community and discussed government's initiatives and policies. Sitiveni, a former co-director of the East West Center's Pacific Development Programme, made a presentation on the political reform in Tonga, the function of parliament and its Standing Committees. Sitiveni is a member of the Standing committee on Finance and Public Accounts, and the Standing Committee on Social Services.

On his return journey, Lord Tu'ivakano stopped over in Apia, Samoa, and attended the first meeting of Polynesian Leaders Group (PLG) on November 17.

At this meeting Polynesian leaders, including the Prime Ministers of Cook Islands, Samoa, and Tonga; the Governor of American Samoa, the Ulu o Tokelau, and Special envoys from Niue, Tuvalu and Ma'ohi Nui - French Polynesia, agreed and signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the establishment of the Polynesian sub-regional group, the Polynesian Leaders Group.

The PLG agreed to work together to:

• Encourage sharing knowledge and experiences in awareness and education to promote and protect cultures, traditions and languages;
• Encourage mutual support of development efforts in areas including but not limited to transport, environmental conservation, climate change, education, energy, health, agriculture and fisheries, tourism, trade and investment;
• Encourage respect for the quality of governance, observance of democratic values and human rights, rule of law and right to self determination;
• Encourage the strengthening of connections with institutions of regional and international cooperation.

The meeting decided that the chairmanship of PLG would be rotated on an annual basis, and for Samoa to chair and provide the secretariat for PLG until the next meeting in the Cook Islands in 2012.