Pacific To Have Strong Presence At Top UN Summit

Pacific To Have Strong Presence At Top U.N. Summit

Suva, Fiji Islands (25 August, 2010) - The Pacific Islands will have a strong presence at the upcoming 63rd Annual United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI)/Non Government Organisation (NGO) Conference which kicks off in Melbourne, Australia, next week.

The global gathering of NGOs from all over the world is being convened under the official banner “Advance Global Health: Achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).”

Pacific Island NGO representatives from Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu, including regional NGO and disability organisations will join their global counterparts to discuss progress on issues such as HIV/AIDS, gender based violence, youth, malaria, nutrition, reproductive health, infant and maternal mortality, child protection, water and sanitation, poverty, environment sustainability and disability, including the absence of disability issues in the MDGs.

A Pacific booth will also form part of numerous NGO exhibitions and some 54 workshops focused around implementation of the MDGs taking place over the three-day summit. Two of the workshops will be run by Pacific NGO presenters featuring their work in achieving MDGs.

The Pacific Island NGOs represented at the conference include the Pacific Islands Association of NGOs (PIANGO), Save the Children (Vanuatu and Fiji), Tonga Women and Children’s Crisis Centre, Tuvalu Association of NGOs, Solomon Islands Development Trust, Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific International (FSPI), Pacific Disability Forum, Pacific Foundation for the Advancement of Women and the Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre. The UNDP Pacific Centre has provided support towards the attendance of a number of NGO representatives.

Also running alongside the margins of the event will be an Aid Communicators’ conference organised by CARE Australia on August 27th and a seminar on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria organised by Pacific Friends of the Global Fund, in conjunction with the Lowy Institute and KPMG. This is due to take place on August 29th and will include strong representation by the Pacific.

“This UNDPI conference will enable our Pacific voices to be heard. The Pacific will be part of a global community who are all focused on the same agenda and implementing it in ways which best suit the needs of their countries and peoples. The Pacific delegation is pleased and very proud to be a part of this like-minded global community,” said Ms Emele Duituturaga, Executive Director of the Pacific Islands Association of NGOs (PIANGO) based in Suva, Fiji.

“Environment sustainability, gender equality, HIV/AIDS, malaria, disability and other health related issues are high on the agenda for the Pacific as we accelerate our efforts to achieve the MDGs. Time, we must remember, is running out,” she said.

The conference will take place from August 30 to September 1, 2010 at Victoria’s the state-of-the–art Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. It will open with an indigenous welcome to Australia and will be followed by welcome remarks from senior representatives of the UN and the Australian government. This is the first time in three years that the conference is being held away from the United Nations headquarters in New York.

ENDS