A diplomatic note has gone to Fiji as the host for the Pacific Island Forum Secretariat, beginning a one-year process for the FSM to withdraw from the PIF, concluding on 14 February next year.
The move comes after the Micronesian Presidents' Summit of the FSM, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Kiribati and Nauru.
All said they would leave the Forum in protest at their candidate not securing the position of Secretary-General of the group, despite what they deemed a gentlemen's agreement to allow the position to be rotated among the sub-regions of the Pacific.