South Pacific Forum Vision Statement
    

The leaders who have participated in the Twenty-Sixth meeting of the South Pacific Forum, the paramount regional inter-governmental organisation in the South Pacific, have a vision for enhancing regional cooperation for the next twenty-five years in which -

Forum members co-operate on the basis of equality, friendship and mutual respect - with due regard for what each can afford - in efforts to maintain security, improve living standards and ensure sustainable development throughout the region;

Opportunities for co-operation with other governments, non-governmental organisations and international organisations, including other bodies in the Asia-Pacific, are actively pursued and developed;

Resources, including fisheries, forestry, minerals, water and land, are developed with proper regard for conservation, the legacy of past generations and the future;

Unity in securing shared interests contributes to the national, regional and global good;

Material progress is matched by improvement in the quality of people’s lives, including human development, equality between women and men, and protection of children;

 

Vulnerability to the effects of natural disasters, environmental damage and other threats will be overcome;

Indigenous and other values, traditions and customs of the region are respected and promoted through cultural, sporting and other exchanges;

Self-determination will be exercised in the remaining independent territories, and unwelcome activities by external powers, including nuclear testing, will cease;

International economic co-operational through trade, investment and other exchanges, strengthens subsistence and agriculture, industrial development and competition, leading to growth - with equity, broadly-based participation and capacity-building for self-reliance;

Openess, accountability and other principles of good government are embodied in the practices, policies and plans of regional institutions; and

National, sub-regional efforts to achieve the Forum’s vision receive the support they require from the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and other regional organisations.

Issued at Madang, Papua New Guinea, 14 September 1995