Informal talks will be held in Tuvalu this week to discuss how 1,000 foreign workers on Nauru can be paid off and go home.
Nationals from Tuvalu and Kiribati worked in the once-thriving Nauru phosphate industry over two decades but have not been paid for a considerable time.
It's understood they won't leave until they're paid by the Nauru government.
A deputy secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum, Iosefa Maiava, says the issue will be raised informally as he and an official from Kiribati will be discussing the Forum's so-called Pacific Plan with the Tuvalu government.
"Because we are not going to have officials from Nauru there, we'll only be myself and officials from Tuvalu and Makurita Baaro from Kiribati."
Iosefa Maiava.
