23 Apr 2007

Forum sends delegates to Solomon Islands for preliminary review of RAMSI

7:42 pm on 23 April 2007

The Pacific Islands Forum will send two delegates to Solomon Islands tomorrow for a preliminary review of the Regional Assistance Mission in Solomon Islands.

The two taskforce members are the foreign minister in the deposed Fiji government, Kaliopate Tavola, and a former New Zealand diplomat, Neil Walter.

The Forum secretariat has described their mission as the preliminary phase of a two-phased review to ensure the Terms of Reference for the Review is covered adequately.

In February, Forum officials met representatives of the Solomon Islands government and the Regional Assistance Mission who agreed there should be more consultation to ensure that the priorities of both agencies are aligned.

They also agreed to finalise the terms of reference quickly so that a first quarterly review meeting could be held in June.

The RAMSI review was a key demand by the Melanesian group of countries made at last October's Forum summit meeting in Nadi.