While in Samoa, senior government officials from FSM and Solomon Islands have worked with Samoa’s Ministry of Finance officials to share expertise, ideas and systems to support existing efforts to strengthen institutions and capacities for national prioritisation, resource allocation and delivering effective services and programmes in their respective countries. These attachments are also part of recommendations from the 2012 and 2013 Peer Review reports of FSM and Solomon Islands. (insert hyperlink)
“We are very grateful to the Government of Samoa for its leadership in supporting regional solutions to Pacific development needs,” said Tuiloma Neroni Slade, Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat.
“Samoa has contributed significantly to the Pacific Peer Review process by releasing four of their senior officials from their Ministry of Finance to serve on seven peer reviews across the Pacific. They continue to support this process by being the first in the region to host neighbouring countries on these Pacific south-south attachments. I also commend the governments of FSM and Solomon Islands for following through with the recommendations of their own peer review processes. These attachments are a very practical expression of regionalism and cooperation in the Pacific.”
The officials from FSM and Solomon Islands are particularly interested in linkages between Samoa’s national and sector development plans and their budgets, Samoa’s engagement with its development partners and how Samoa’s Official Development Aid (ODA) is reflected on their national budget.
The FSM and Solomon Islands officials, who are in Samoa from 19 – 30 May, will conclude their attachment with exit reports to the Government of Samoa and their respective governments on their return.
Papua New Guinea and Republic of the Marshall Islands will be the next Forum Island Countries to be hosted in Samoa in October.