Monday, 4 August 2014, Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), Noumea, New Caledonia – The Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) has been pleased to host recent visits by several high school classes from throughout New Caledonia along with one leg of the University of New Caledonia’s “heritage” rally.
SPC Headquarters have been located in Noumea, New Caledonia since 1949, first at the old “Pentagon” site, which today hosts the “Promendade” complex, and then, since 1995, at 95 boulevard Roger Laroque in Anse-Vata.
In addition to serving as a hub for regional cooperation in the Pacific, these new Headquarters, whose architecture is based on the Pacific ideal, are a genuine focal point for Pacific island knowledge and skills. Among the interesting facts from the site’s construction, we can note that the lines in the gardens represent Marshall Island navigational charts, the curving roof of the Conference Centre calls to mind the hull of an upturned canoe and the walls of its meeting room were woven using traditional techniques.
SPC would like to acknowledge those schools that have made SPC Headquarters one of the steps in their students’ development – in that way highlighting the importance of the regional context and the place that New Caledonia can hold in the Pacific zone, which covers nearly a third of the surface of our globe.
For Cameron Diver, Deputy Director-General, “It is vital for SPC to open its doors to young people in New Caledonia, first so that they can gain a better understanding of SPC and its role in the development of Pacific island countries and territories. But it is just as important that SPC widen the vision of this younger generation in terms of the region they live in and the role that New Caledonia can play, as a full member of the Pacific Community, in helping their neighbours meet the many challenges facing all of the Pacific, whether they be climate change, food security, health, education or sustainable use of its resources.”
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