RMI

Micronesian leaders united in decision to withdraw from Forum

Palau has already commenced with the process.  

A statement released today said the five Presidents of Micronesia will honour the Mekreos Communique and withdraw from the Forum as stated in a joint communique released also released today.

The leaders of Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Kiribati and the Republic of the Marshall Islands met virtually yesterday (Monday).

According to the statement, Nauru President Lionel Aingimea “believes the Forum has lost its original intent to be a regional body and what the Forum was originally set up to do.”

Pacific's first woman president keen for others to follow in her footsteps

But history was made in Samoa after elections last year, when Fiame Naomi Mata'afa was sworn in as her country's first female deputy prime minister.

And two months earlier in Marshall Islands, Hilda Heine was sworn in as her country's first female president, and the first woman to serve as head of state in any independent Pacific Island nation.

According to Radio Australia, President Heine says she hopes her success story is a catalyst for Pacific Islanders to pinpoint the underlying causes of inequality in their communities that often hold women back.