Civil Society Organisations’ Dialogue will be held today

PRESS RELEASE (21/11)
25th March 2011

The Fourth Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat – Civil Society Organisations’ Dialogue will be held today at the Secretariat in Suva, Fiji.

Recognising the important role of civil society in national development and regional affairs, the 2009 Forum Regional Security Committee endorsed the PIFS-CSO Dialogue as the mechanism to provide a structured approach to strengthen engagement between civil society and the Forum on peace, conflict, and security issues.

The PIFS-CSO Dialogue provides regional civil society organisations working on conflict, peace and security issues, the opportunity to convey matters they wish to bring to the attention of Forum officials and feed into Forum processes, including the Forum Regional Security Committee. The Dialogue has also been helpful to the Forum Secretariat in its work toward implementing its peace, conflict and security mandates, including under the Pacific Plan and the Biketawa Declaration.

“This Dialogue is serving its purpose to strengthen the Forum’s relations with civil society organisations, collectively and individually, and I am pleased to say that the Secretariat already enjoys good working relations with a wide range of civil society organisations in the region. We look forward to continue working together toward realising our mutual goals, relating to peace, conflict and security issues in the region,” said Tuiloma Neroni Slade, Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.

The PIFS-CSO Dialogue is held twice a year. There have been three sessions to date, on 20 November 2009, 16 April 2010 and 16 November 2010 respectively.

ENDS

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