This year's Pacific Islands Forum Summit, held last week in Apia, was heavily influenced by a meeting of foreign ministers last month, according to the head of TNC Pacific Consulting, Tess Newton Cain.
Ms Newton Cain and Mathew Dornan of the Development Policy Centre have compiled a blog article assessing the meeting.
Ms Newtown Cain told Don Wiseman 2017 was a far quieter event than in the recent past and some of this is due to the impact of the foreign ministers on the agenda.