Samoa confirmed as host country for WCPFC 2014

FFA MEDIA RELEASE
Friday 6th December 2013

WCPFC 10, Cairns, AUSTRALIA. — Thursday 28th November 2013 –Samoa will be hosting not just one but two major international meetings in 2014. The host country for the global UN Conference on Small Islands Developing States in September next year will now also host the 11th WCPFC session from December 1-5.

The announcement and advance words of welcome to global WCPFC members came from Samoa’s Chief Executive/National Coordinator for the UN Conference on SIDS, Faalavaau Maiava Perina Sila of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Sila thanked another bidding country, Indonesia, for its agreement to stand down its host bid and confirm 2015 as its hosting year.

“I want to welcome each and every one of you to Samoa, and extend greetings from our Prime Minister who looks forward to hosting you all.” Sila told delegates at the Cairns conference centre. She noted the welcome mat would include comprehensive transport and conference venue provisions, planned to involve a refurbishment of Faleata Sports complex national gymnasium in time for the 2,000 delegates expected to attend the UN SIDS meeting. WCPFC sessions can involve an estimated 600 delegates travelling from Pacific nations and those countries with fisheries interests in the region.

FFA Director General James Movick has welcomed the news of Samoa hosting the 2014 meeting, noting the membership and numbers attending the annual WCPFC sessions have grown since the first time Samoa hosted, in 2006.

“Location logistics and technical support are always a major commitment for our developing member nations to take on, and are no minor task. We commend the leading role of Samoa in further demonstrating its active and involved membership within the Forum Fisheries Committee and WCPFC,” says Movick.

“Importantly, the hosting by one of our member nations helps bring developed and distant water fishing nations to come and see for themselves the realities confronting developing nations of the Pacific ocean they are fishing from.”

ENDS

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