Biggest annual gathering of local governments in the Pacific

Biggest annual gathering of local governments in the Pacific

The Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) Pacific will be holding its second Pacific Local Government Forum (PLGF) in Honiara, Solomon Islands next week from the 4 – 9 November. The conference is the largest annual gathering of local government in the region and will bring together over 40 representatives from government ministries, local government associations and capital cities across eleven countries in the region: Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu as well as Australia and New Zealand.

This year the PLGF will be hosted by the Solomon Islands Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening and the Honiara City Council. The Forum provides an opportunity for local government policy makers and practitioners to meet regional peers to exchange ideas and good practices on putting local government at the heart of development.

The theme of this year’s PLGF is, ‘Unleashing the potential power of local government in promoting local economic development and delivering MDGs’. Increasingly, there is recognition that local government in the Pacific plays a central role in creating, promoting and facilitating the right environment for economic development which is vital for the prosperity and wellbeing of countries and communities.

The conference will aim to look at ways in which local government authorities are joining in partnerships with the private sector, civil society and communities to boost LED through inward investment, jobs and skills. The outcomes of the deliberations will be synthesized into guidelines to support local government and their stakeholders in developing and implementing strategies for LED.

The Forum is also expected to create a platform for dialogue and demonstrating good practice LED-related activities from around the region. Study visits to several innovative LED projects in and around Honiara have also been planned.

CLGF Secretary-General Carl Wright who will speak at the Forum said:

“This is a critical event for local government in the Pacific. It not only allows those with a stake in local government to discuss key issues, but will also help shape our work in the Pacific over the next few years. Our members identified LED as a key concern for local government at our conference in Cardiff in 2011. The resulting Cardiff Consensus for local economic development was not only endorsed by our members but also Commonwealth Heads of Government at their meeting in Perth later that year.”

Across the Commonwealth, more local governments are being given the responsibilities and powers for local economic development- from strategic planning to create the right environment, infrastructure and skills to encourage development and inward investment, to supporting micro-business and promoting youth enterprise, local procurement of goods and services.

‘I am pleased to see the Pacific leading in taking forward this important issue.” Mr Wright added.

The Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) was founded in 1995, as a focus for action on local democracy in the Commonwealth. It works to promote and strengthen democratic local government across the Commonwealth and to encourage the exchange of best practice. In the Pacific, CLGF works with national and local governments and other stakeholders in the Pacific region to strengthen local democracy and improve service delivery in eight Pacific island countries: Cook Islands, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

www.clgfpacific.org

ENDS

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