The Solomon Islands Prime Minister, Derek Sikua, says his country remains opposed to amalgamating the Forum FisheriesAgency with other regional institutions.
Dr Sikua made the comments while meeting with his visiting Cook Islands counterpart, Jim Marurai, whose trip to Honiara has taken in a meeting at the FFA headquarters.
Mr Marurai expressed his interest in helping to look at ways of protecting tuna stocks in the region.
Dr Sikua says the Solomons and other members of the regional fisheries agency, including Cook Islands, have been opposing the idea of merging the FFA with other regional institutions into one single body.
He says FFA is about sovereign Pacific nations deciding over sovereign resources, the fish and marine stocks, adding FFA is a separate entity under the pillar of the Pacific island Forum's Pacific Plan.
Dr Sikua said under the Pacific Plan regional leaders and relevant institutions must work together to ensure their island nations continue to benefit from the FFA.
