Kiribati has withdrawn from the 51st Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting that began yesterday in Suva.
In a letter posted on Twitter, Kiribati President Taneti Maamau addressed PIFS secretary-general Henry Puna and informed him Kiribati would pull out completely from the forum.
He said the withdrawal was because of four major reasons.
Firstly, Kiribati not being part of the agreement endorsed by leaders which allowed Mr Puna to keep his position as secretary-general for PIFS.
Secondly, he said while Kiribati was grateful for the efforts gone into preparing reform packages under the leadership of Fiji, Kiribati was “gravely concerned about the decision to forego the opportunity to genuinely discuss the appointment and tenure of the incumbent SG without Kiribati’s involvement”.
Thirdly, he said while Kiribati deeply respected the decision that individual members of the Micronesian Presidents Summit took regarding their return to PIF and their acceptance of the Suva Agreement, there was never any MPS collective caucus decision to return to PIF.
Under the agreement, Micronesian leaders have abandoned their demand for Mr Puna to step down from his position of secretary-general of PIFS, instead allowing him to serve out his term until 2024.
Mr Puna will be replaced by a Micronesian candidate when his term finishes. Mr Maamau said Kiribati’s concerns had not been addressed and his country would neither be signing the Suva Agreement nor attending the forum.
He said another reason for Kiribati’s inability to participate in the forum was that the dates of the forum coincided with Kiribati’s National Day celebrations and he had sought for the meeting to be deferred but his request was not considered or even acknowledged.
The meeting, underway in Suva, is being hosted by the Fijian Government and Pacific leaders from 18-member countries were expected to meet face-to-face for the first time since 2019 to discuss numerous concerns affecting the region.
