THE United States of America (US) has not taken its eyes off the Pacific region and has assured a high level delegation from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) that it intends to deepen engagement and cooperation with the region.
US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau met last Friday with Prime Minister of Tonga and current PIF chair Dr ‘Aisake Eke and PIF secretary-general Baron Waqa who were on an advocacy mission to the US last week to seek financing pledges for the Pacific Resilience Facility.
“The United States, as a Pacific power, remains committed to engagement with the region and looked forward to deepening cooperation on a range of issues to secure a free, open, and prosperous Pacific region,” Mr Landau said in a statement after the meeting.
“The Deputy Secretary, Prime Minister, and Secretary General also discussed expanding opportunities for strengthening commercial ties to promote durable, long term economic growth and development that benefits both Americans and Pacific Islanders.”
The advocacy mission followed the successful endorsement of the PRF Establishment Agreement (Treaty) by Forum Economic Ministers during their Special Meeting held in Tonga last month.
“Following the endorsement of the Treaty for signing by Forum Leaders, this advocacy mission is being held to coincide with the global multilateral meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund (IMF),” Dr Eke said.
“It is an opportunity to further engage the Pacific Islands Forum’s development partners and multilateral institutions to support the Pacific-owned and Pacific-led regional resilience financing facility for Pacific communities, without incurring a further debt burden for our members.
“Our message is simple: the Pacific Islands Forum is serious about the PRF.
“We are saying to our development partners that the time to act is now, and to support the PRF so that we can demonstrate the transformative power of this grant investment vehicle, to predictably finance our communities’ resilience needs.”
Secretary-General Waqa said they had already fundraised about $US150m ($F338m) from COP28 in 2023 and have mobilised resources to try to raise the balance of $US350m ($F790m to reach the $US500m ($F1.128billion) capitalisation target for the PRF by COP31 in 2026.
Note: This article was first published on the print version of the Fiji Times dated April 29, 2025
