I will attend the 35th Pacific Islands Forum in Apia, Samoa, from 5-7 August.
The Forum will provide a platform for leaders to reaffirm their commitment to ambitious and wide-ranging reform initiatives already underway, based on the pooling of regional resources wherever possible. Leaders will consider a range of Australian recommendations to improve transport services in the region based on this approach. They will also take forward development of the Pacific Plan, which will become the cornerstone document for the region with a strong focus on the key goals of good governance, economic prosperity, sustainable development and security.
The Forum comes at the end of twelve months of substantial engagement between Australia and our Pacific neighbours. The Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands has recently celebrated its first anniversary and continues to make good progress. The Enhanced Cooperation Package with Papua New Guinea will see deployments of police and officials over the next few months. The government provided an extra $53.6 million in the Budget for agencies to continue their cooperative efforts with Pacific island countries to improve standards of governance. Earlier this week, the government announced the findings of a Pacific Sporting Needs Assessment, coupled with $615,000 towards a new sport education programme targeting schools across the Pacific. The new international HIV/AIDS strategy launched by the government in July contributes an extra $350 million for the Asia Pacific region, including $60 million for one of the most serious affected countries, Papua New Guinea. And in May, the government launched a $2.1 million Pacific Media and Communications Facility to support the communications sector in our region.
Australia has been an active and constructive player in the Pacific Islands Forum for 35 years. I look forward to discussing with my fellow leaders ways in which we can continue to work together towards our common goals of peace, prosperity and stability for the region.