18 Feb 2008

Regional Assistance Mission under scrutiny this week in Solomon Islands

4:41 pm on 18 February 2008

The Solomon Islands government and the Pacific Islands Forum, along with Australian government representatives, will this week meet to discuss the future of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands, or RAMSI.

The Enhanced Consultative Mechanism and Forum Ministerial Standing Committee will sit in two sets of meetings in Honiara from Wednesday to Friday.

This is the first meeting between the RAMSI partners since the Pacific Islands Forum leaders met in Tonga last October and will include the Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith.

The new Solomons' Prime Minister Derek Sikua has pledged full support for RAMSI, which had a strained relationship with his predecessor, Manasseh Sogavare.