This afternoon the Prime Minister of Tuvalu the Honorable Enele Sopoaga signed the PIDF Charter signaling the formal admission of Tuvalu to the PIDF.
The Ceremony which took place at the PIDF Secretariat also witnessed the formal raising of the Tuvalu national flag at the PIDF Secretariat.
Tuvalu now becomes the eleventh member of the PIDF. The other PIDF members that have signed the PIDF Charter are: Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Vanuatu, Pacific Island Association of Non-Governmental Organisation and Pacific Island Private Sector Organisation.
Last week witnessed the Pacific Island Private Sector Organisation also signing the PIDF Charter and joining the PIDF.
Speaking after today’s ceremonies the Secretary General of the PIDF Mr. François Martel says:
“Today was another historical day for the PIDF when we admitted Tuvalu as our newest member of the PIDF family.Tuvalu has been part of the PIDF journey even before the PIDF was birthed when it was part of that historical meeting of the ENGAGEMENT WITH THE PACIFIC that met in Nadi in 2012 and approved the formation of the PIDF. Today the wheel has come full circle with the formal admission of Tuvalu into the PIDF.
The PIDF is excited about Tuvalu’s accession to the PIDF Charter because it becomes the first Pacific island Country to signed the Charter after its registration by the UN early this month.
We are glad that Tuvalu now joins the PIDF family of members, as the Government has been engaged with PIDF in all our Summits and consultations. One of our Staff member assisted Tuvalu with their INDC which was announced here at the Secretariat by the Hon Prime Minister himself. In Paris, the Prime Minister of Tuvalu was one of the most prominent advocate for the Suva Declaration on Climate Change and yesterday we were honored to hear the Hon Prime Minister share a behind the scene look into the successful COP21 negotiations during our first public forum on the Paris Agreement.
We look forward to working closely with Tuvalu on various initiatives that will be coming up on the coalition of atoll nations, on the roadmap on climate change following COP21 and the PIDF’s work on building climate resilience through development of green and blue economies, among others.
Tuvalu’s expertise and experience in international negotiations is something a lot of our other members can benefit from and we will be looking at how we can work collaboratively with Tuvalu in some of these key areas while delivering our mandate through our partnership with the atoll nation.”