The importance of the Pacific Islands Development Forum grows, with yet another major Asian leader giving its keynote address.

The Government will host the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand Prayut Chan-O-Cha for an Official Visit September 1-3 in Suva.

At the same time, the Pacific Island Development Forum (PIDF) will host the 2015 Summit at the Grand Pacific Hotel.

The Thai Prime Minister will deliver the keynote address at the opening.

Before this are a number of events.

They include the traditional welcoming ceremony for the PIDF, and bilateral meetings between the Prime Ministers of Fiji and Thailand.  Change.

A New Zealand Government minister will be leading a NZ delegation.

The acting PIDF general secretary Amena Yauvoli confirmed this yesterday in a press conference. But he could not disclose the minister’s name.

“The Foreign Affairs Minister, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola has told us that a minister will lead a team from New Zealand to the meeting,” he said.

He said Australia would also be sending a team to the meeting.

The PIDF summit, he said, would be from September 2 to September 4.

This year’s theme, he said, would be “Building Climate Resilient Green Blue Pacific Economies”.

Mr Yauvoli said this year’s PIDF summit would be historical, as participants would witness the promulgation of the PIDF Charter, which would formally establish it as an international organisation.

He said the charter, in its draft form, had gone through a very comprehensive consultation process with representatives from the public sector, private sector and civil society from across the Pacific converging in Suva on two occassions to discuss and debate the contents of the charter.

“This charter once signed

He said at the summit the new first permanent secretary general would be appointed.

Mr Yauvoli said the 3rd PIDF Summit in line with this year’s theme, would be pivotal in that it would be the final opportunity when the people of the Pacific would come together to discuss their stance in the critical 21st Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) to be held in Paris later in the year.

He said key messages for Paris would be formulated and called the Suva Declaration on Climate Change.

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