Roundup: Fiji hosts Pacific Islands Development Forum's 3rd summit

Fiji on Wednesday hosted the Pacific Islands Development Forum's (PIDF) 3rd summit, where more than 200 delegates from over 20 countries gathered at the Pacific island country's capital of Suva to discuss the development path of the region as well as form a common stance before a United Nations climate conference is held in France later this year.

With a theme of "Building a Climate Resilient Green Blue Pacific Economies", the three-day summit is expected to witness the promulgation of the PIDF Charter that will formally establish the PIDF as an international organization.

Under the charter, the region's first regional development fund under the PIDF that will finance regional developments will be formally launched, according to the PIDF's Suva-based secretariat.

During the summit, the region's key message for the Paris Climate Change Conference to be held in November is expected to be formulated, and a Suva Declaration on Climate Change is expected to be discussed.

The summit comes at a time when Pacific leaders are lobbying larger western nations to agree on binding cuts in carbon emissions to combat global warming.

As the chief guest, Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Gen. Thanasak Patimapragorn delivered his keynote speech at the opening of the summit, assuring Thailand 's support to Pacific island countries on climate change issues.

"I would like to commend Fiji's leadership and initiative in hosting the third PIDF summit under the theme of 'Building a Climate Resilient Green Blue Pacific Economies'," Thanasak said.

Thailand and small island developing states can work together to mitigate the impact of climate change, Thanasak said.

While delivering his welcoming remarks, Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama urged developed countries to listen to the voice of island countries that are vulnerable to climate change and global warming.

"We gather today with another battle foremost in our minds - the struggle to persuade the international community to deal decisively with undoubtedly the greatest single challenge of our age - the threat to the entire world and especially small island developing states posed by climate change," Bainimarama said.

"We have 13 weeks before the nations gather in Paris for the United Nations Climate Change Conference to highlight the gravity of the threat we face in the Pacific from rising sea levels and extreme weather events caused by global warming. Thirteen weeks to convince the industrial nations of the absolute necessity to set deep and binding cuts in carbon emissions to arrest that warming and give us a fighting chance," said the Fijian prime minister.

"The nations of the world have a stark choice to make in Paris. To take decisive action to reduce their own carbon emissions and agree on internationally binding cuts to arrest the current rate of global warming," Bainimarama added.

The summit is attended by the presidents and vice presidents of Nauru, Kiribati and the Federated States of Micronesia, the prime ministers of Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tokelau and Tuvalu, foreign ministers from Marshall Islands, Indonesia and Kazakhstan, and envoys and diplomats from other countries. Also attending this year's summit is Kamalesh Sharma, secretary general of the Commonwealth.

The PIDF's inaugural and 2nd summits were held in August, 2013 and June, 2014 successively, both at Fiji's tourism hub of Nadi. Endi