Caption: (L) DPLGA Secretary Munare Uyassi, and his
Deputy Dickson Guina
By
MATTHEW VARI
THE
Department of Provincial and Local Government Affairs (DPLGA) in partnership
with the National Capital District Commission are set to host the Pacific Local
Government Forum (PLGF) from May 19 to 23.
Organized
by the Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) Pacific, the form is the
largest bi-annual gathering of local government policy makers and practitioners
in the Pacific- with the last forum was held in the Solomon Islands in 2012.
With 150
delegates expected from nine Pacific countries- Cook Islands, Kiribati,
Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and the host
nation, along with Australia and New Zealand.
Participants
will include heads of ministries and departments responsible for local
governments, national local government associations, and mayors and town clerks
of major cities along with presidents.
Under the
theme of ‘Pacific Futures: Building Local Communities’, Secretary for the
DPLGA, Munare Uyassi, said that forum was vital for the sharing of experiences
to enable the effective delivery of government services to local communities.
“It is my
privilege as the secretary responsible for Local Governments to jointly host
the forum with the National Capital District Commission,” Uyassi said.
“I would
like to thank the CLGF forum based in London for their confidence in PNG to
give us the honour to be the host for the 2014 meet.”
“It will be
an opportunity for us and them especially to learn about our very good local
government system.”
He added
that the forum was the first on list of big events that the country, especially
the city was going to host in terms of the Melanesian Arts Festival (June),
South Pacific Games (2015), and APEC meet (2018)- emphasize it as the first
real test of the country’s ability to host big regional events.
“It will be
our time to showcase our country and city to our regional partners, and if we
can do well with this one, we can do well with the others,” he said.
Deputy
Secretary for DPLG and Chairman for the Working Committee, Dickson Guina, said
that preparation were well underway with the total cost to host the event was
K1.2 million, which would be shared among both the state and CLGF.
“Of the
total budget, the CLGF office in Suva will co-fund half of the budget and our
government will put up half- we are looking at K700,000, which is inclusive of
the National Capital District Commission,” he said.
“With
representative in the Working Committee from NCDC, National Events Council
Secretariat, and the Foreign Affairs Preparations have been good and we are in
the process of finalizing the events for the meet.”
He thanked
the local business community for their participation through the setting up of
exhibitions throughout the five day forum.
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