Cooks PM affirms stand on decisions at meeting

THE Pacific ACP has defended the decisions reached by its leaders during a meeting in Port Moresby last month.
Chairman Henry Puna, the Cook Islands prime minister, said in a statement he stood by the recorded outcomes of the special meeting of Pacific ACP leaders held in PNG on Nov 21.
He said the special meeting concluded with the agreement of all the leaders present and the communiqué accurately reflected the decisions reached.
The decisions include :

• The leaders’ full support for Fiji to be engaged in PACP meetings at all levels;
•    An interim secretariat hosted and funded by the Government of Papua New Guinea to convene meetings of PACP leaders; and 
•     An agreement for an interim secretariat provide leaders with the mechanism to better engage the Fiji leadership at a practical distance from the Pacific Islands Forum and its related meetings, from which Fiji remains suspended.

The PNG-hosted interim secretariat preserves a process for the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat to continue to assist the PACP members to conclude negotiations with the EU on an economic partnership arrangement and related matters.
Puna said the best possible decision was reached in Port Moresby because it demonstrated collective support to embrace Fiji while sustaining full respect for the Forum’s position, and its processes.