Niue Ready To Host 2010 FEMM

Niue Ready To Host 2010 FEMM

Alofi, Niue, 24th October 2010 –

The Government of Niue is ready to host the 14th Forum Economic Ministers’ Meeting (FEMM) which gets underway here on 26th October 2010.

More than half of the Forum Economic Ministers and their officials have already arrived in Niue with the rest expected to arrive before the meeting starts.

“On behalf of the Ministers and their officials, I wish to commend the Government of Niue for the arrangements that it has put in place in its preparations to host the 2010 FEMM. The arrangements make it conducive for successful deliberations on important economic and financial issues confronting the region. A principal focus of this key FEMM session is on ways to broaden the economic base of Forum member countries,” says Tuiloma Neroni Slade, Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, who is already in Niue for the Meeting.

The 14th FEMM will be chaired by the Premier of Niue and Finance Minister, Hon. Toke Talagi.

The FEMM Officials Preparatory meeting will be held on 26th October while the Finance Ministers hold their informal discussions. The Plenary session will be held on 27th October to be followed by the Ministerial Retreat on 28 October.

Discussions are expected to cover developments since the 2009 FEMM and aim to focus on ways in which the economic base of Forum member countries could be broadened, as part of the efforts to build the economic resilience of member countries. In this context, the Ministers will discuss a report on the progress made by the Forum Fisheries Ministers on the issue of improving returns from the region’s fisheries sector.

An overview of the main issues on improving revenue collection in Forum Island Countries with particular reference to addressing the impacts of the global economic crisis and trade liberalisation, which was a mandate from the 2009 FEMM, will be presented to the Economic Ministers, including also improved opportunities for private sector growth in the region.

The 2010 FEMM will also discuss the deliverables under the Cairns Compact which is the Pacific Plan mechanism aimed at strengthening development coordination in the region generally and with respect to public finance management, in particular as to expenditure management, revenue, procurement, accountability and monitoring systems in Forum Island Countries.

A key task for Forum Economic Ministers at their Niue session will be to consider ways to improve access to international funding sources for climate change and how efficiently to manage such resources. Forum Leaders at their meeting in August this year had mandated FEMM to advise on feasible options to improve access to such funding, recognizing the critical importance of this issue for all countries of the region and the need for sound management of resources.

ENDS

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