PRESS RELEASE
On 6 February 2013, the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) will celebrate 66 years of service to the Pacific region.
The largest regional organisation in the Pacific was founded on 6 February 1947 with the signature of the Canberra Agreement by Australia, France, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.
SPC today still includes four of the six founding countries, i.e. France, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, along with 22 Pacific island countries and territories. SPC is composed of seven divisions:
– Land Resources Division (LRD)
– Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Ecosystems Division (FAME)
– Applied Geoscience and Technology Division (SOPAC)
– Public Health Division (PHD)
– Statistics for Development Division (SDD)
– Economic Development Division (EDD)
– Education, Training and Human Development Division (ETHD).
SPC Headquarters have been located in Noumea, New Caledonia since 1949. SPC also has two regional offices, one in Suva, Fiji, and the other in Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia; and a field office in Honiara, Solomon Islands.
To mark the occasion, SPC will host an exhibit of arts and handicrafts from throughout the Pacific in the Hall of its Conference Centre. The exhibit will be open to the public from noon to 4 p.m. on Thursday, 7, and Friday, 8 February.