The Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting this year will be focussed on converting the region's resources into economic development.
The 42nd leaders summit will be held in Auckland next month, and New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key has announced the proposed theme is converting potential into prosperity.
Mr Key says in the past 40 years, the Forum has played a major role in developing a sense of Pacific regionalism, but the challenge is to build on the idea of a common purpose.
"By potential, I mean the ability to build on the region's many resources and assets. Too often the potential of the Pacific is overlooked in the rush to identify problems. We need to focus a little more on what our part of the world has, rather than on what it does not have."
John Key says the meeting will focus on the first two pillars of the Pacific Plan, economic growth and sustainable development.
