Pacific Islands Forum

The Pacific Islands Forum is the main organization of regional governance in the Pacific. It was founded in 1971 as the South Pacific Forum and changed its name to Pacific Islands Forum in 2000. The seven founding members were Australia, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, New Zealand, Tonga, and Western Samoa. These countries wanted to look at shared issues with a regional perspective, cooperate in areas of political and economic concern, and express their joint political views to the international community. Since 1971, the founding countries have been joined by Niue, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau. Member countries have to be self-governing or independent states. Pacific island territories on a path to becoming self-governing or independent can be forum observers. Current observers are East Timor, French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Tokelau. In 2005, the forum decided to introduce a new membership category called associate membership to extend cooperation with nonsovereign Pacific territories.

The forum holds an annual meeting of heads of government. Key areas of discussion are trade and economics, the environment, education, good governance, and security. A Post-Forum Dialogue is held after the heads of government meeting. The Post-Forum Dialogue was established in 1989 and is a meeting of the forum with nonregional parties. The dialogue partners are Canada, China, the European Union, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This dialogue is an opportunity for the forum to express their collective views to an international audience.

The forum's administrative arm was established in 1972. It is currently known as the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. Previously, it had been named South Pacific Bureau for Economic Cooperation and South Pacific Forum Secretariat. The Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat is based in Suva, Fiji. The governing body of the Secretariat is the Forum Officials' Committee. This committee consists of representatives of all the forum governments. It holds its own annual meeting prior to the heads of government annual meeting. The Secretary General of the Secretariat chairs the Council of Regional Organizations in the Pacific (CROP), which represents ten regional organizations in the Pacific region, including the Secretariat and others such as the South Pacific Tourism Organization, Forum Fisheries Agency, and the University of the South Pacific. CROP primarily aims to ensure that its member organizations collaborate efficiently and effectively without replicating each other's activities.