The 2018’s 21st Summit of Melanesian Spearhead Group Leaders is set to be hosted by Papua New Guinea in Moresby Port. The summit will be held this coming month from dates 10th to 15th.
On behalf of PNG, Peter O’ Neil, Papua’s Prime Minister was appointed to be the Chairperson of the summit and its constituent groups. A team representing MSG met with officials from PNG Foreign Affairs last week in final preparations and arrangements for the 21st summit.
Member countries of the Melanesian Spearhead Group include Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Front de Liberation Nationale Kanak ET Socialiste (FLNKS), Vanuatu and Fiji. The MSG leaders are Prime Minister Rick Houeniplwela of the Solomon Islands, Fiji Prime Minister Frank Voreqe Bainimarama, leaders of FLNKS government and Sato Kilman, the Prime Minister of Vanuatu. All these leaders are expected to be in attendance at the Summit in PNG.
Amena Yauvoli who is the Secretariat director general of the Melanesian Spearhead Group assured PNG that they were committed to assisting them ahead of the upcoming summit. This is to ensure that the summit would be successful. Ambassador Amena Yauvoli met with Barbara Age who is the acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Foreign Affairs Rimbink Pato in PNG. He also held discussions with Gari Baki who is the Police Commissioner and other government officials. The ambassador assured his PNG counterparts that the MSG Secretariat was putting a lot of efforts in making ready all the meeting materials. They also discussed external issues involved in the summit like security and finance issues.
Acting secretary for PNG Foreign Affairs Barbara Age insisted that PNG priority would be issued on sustainable development goals during the MSG summit. This is by the laid out plan for Prosperity for All in MSG 2038. The MSG theme, therefore, agreed upon was prosperity and peace issues. PNG government is also making necessary arrangements to host the MSG summit successfully.