Support Pacific region: Pato

Main Stories

IMMIGRATION and Foreign Affairs Minister Rimbink Pato has urged development partners and non-government organisations in the international community to support the Pacific region.
He told a conference in Washington DC, United States of America, last Thursday that small island nations had limited resources and institutional capacity.
The conference focused on four issues: the marine protected areas, sustainable fisheries, marine pollution, and climate-related impacts on the ocean.
Pato said the small nations’ vulnerability resulted in strong and effective community and national systems to cope with modern pressures. This had resulted in a strong and effective framework of regional cooperation and unity.
He urged international partners to work with these communities, national and regional frameworks in ways that were appropriate and considerate of their constraints.
Pato said the Pacific region through the Pacific Islands Forum had in place the framework for Pacific regionalism which served as a conduit to address regional issues including climate change.