By Richard Menanopo
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade (MFAET) has announced its proposal for Solomon Islands to have its own United Nations Resident Coordinator.
This move aims to increase the presence of United Nations (UN) in the country, a statement by MFAET Tuesday this week said.
This follows a meeting between permanent representatives of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) to the United Nations with the three United Nations Resident Coordinators (RCs) for the Pacific.
The UN resident coordinators are: Dirk Wagener, UN resident coordinator for Fiji, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu; Karla Robin Hershey, for Samoa, Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau; and Mamadou Kane, for the Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Palau, Kiribati and Nauru.
The meeting was held on December 2 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, United States of America, the MFAET statement said.
The meeting was chaired by the Solomon Islands Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Her Excellency Jane Waetara.
Waetara acknowledged the United Nations’ continued commitment to the Pacific and underscored the vital role of Resident Coordinators in ensuring sustained UN engagement in the region.
She noted the importance in advancing national and regional development priorities and in supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) across Pacific Island countries.
Waetara said the PIF group looks forward to tabling the biennial resolution on cooperation between the United Nations and the Pacific Islands Forum.
Meanwhile, the meeting also discussed the UN80 reform initiative and its potential implications for the Pacific region.
The meeting provided an opportunity for the resident coordinators to brief permanent representatives on their work across the Pacific, promote information sharing and further strengthen cooperation between the Pacific Islands Forum group and the UN Resident Coordinator system.
The permanent representatives highlighted the importance of active engagement by the PIF group throughout the UN80 reform process.
A highlight of the discussions was the need to ensure that any reforms do not compromise support for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), including the preservation of UN programmes tailored to SIDS and strengthened coordination through the UN Resident Coordinator system in the Pacific.
Photo: MFAET
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