I am pleased to announce that I will attend the 34th Pacific Islands Forum in Auckland, New Zealand, from 14 - 16 August 2003.
Leaders from the sixteen Pacific Islands Forum member countries will meet this year with a central focus on the Forum's watershed decision to provide comprehensive security and economic assistance to Solomon Islands, a fellow Forum member.
I will also be raising with Forum leaders practical ways we can strengthen regional collaboration through the pooling of regional resources and a more effective and better-resourced Forum Secretariat. Our discussion will include ways in which Australia can work with Forum members to upgrade the effectiveness of regional policing efforts and to improve airline links on an economically-sustainable basis.
Other important issues will include the impact of climate change and HIV/AIDS on the region. As Chairman-in-Office of the Commonwealth, I also intend to discuss with Pacific Commonwealth leaders the deteriorating situation in Zimbabwe.