PM Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi

Fiame Matafa resigned from the Human Rights Protection Party last week over the government's controversial proposals to amend the constitution.

During his weekly address Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi was asked by local media what he thought of comments by Fiame that the country was on the rocks.

To which Tuilaepa replied saying Fiame had never slept on rocks in her life.

"When she was born, she slept on a mattress, up until now she sleeps on a mattress," said Tuila'epa.

In his intervention during the ACP meeting, Tuilaepa noted that the successor agreement post-2020 must “play a strategic and central role in the achievement of national, regional and all-ACP aspirations”.

To this end, he urged the ACP Group to “ensure that our collective priorities and challenges are fully accounted for” in the new agreement.

The Prime Minister went on to brief the ACP Ministers on the outcome of the 1st Pacific consultations on a Pacific-EU Protocol held in Apia on 26 February, 2019 including Pacific priorities as identified by Leaders. 

He will pay calls on the President of Fiji and is expected to meet with his Fiji counterpart Frank Bainimarama on Monday.

He will address a gathering at the University of the South Pacific as part of that institution's 50th Anniversary.

The Fiji government says the visit will build greater bridges of co-operation and solidarity between the Fijian and Samoan people.

The ceremony took place in New York on 7 June on the side-lines of the UN Ocean Conference, where among other activities the Prime Minister addressed participants on the value of tourism to sustainably advance the blue economy.