Tonga Prime Minister Feleti Waka'uta Sevele called on the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) leaders on Tuesday to make concerted effort to bring about a resolution to counter the effects of rising fuel prices.
Addressing the opening ceremony of the 39th Pacific Island Forum leaders summit here early afternoon, Sevele, the outgoing chair of the forum, said he suggested the forum leaders to direct the incoming Secretary General to sort out the issue of bulk purchasing of petroleum within six months of his assuming office.
"The issue of bulk purchasing of petroleum has been on the Forum agenda for quite some time and given what is happening now, we need as a region to be more decisive and be 'outcomes-oriented'," the prime minister said.
Secretary General of the PIF Secretariat, Greg Urwin, died of illness on Aug. 9, 2008, and the new secretary general will be elected at the current forum leaders summit.
In his speech, Sevele also raised the urgent issue of climate change to the summit attention and called for quick action.
"We have been talking about these for the past few years; Tuvalu has been crying out about the dire effect of climate change and rising sea-levels, but nothing concrete has been done to mitigate the problems they encounter as a result," he said.
And in this regard, Sevele thanked the government of Niue for choosing climate change as the theme for this year's forum meeting, and hoped necessary remedial measures would be taken at this forum summit to help relieve the pains of the low-lying island states.
Source:Xinhua
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