The first meeting of the Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Project Steering Committee for CREWS-Canada and Canada Projects in the Pacific, “Strengthening Hydro-Meteorological and Early Warning Services in the Pacific” and “Building Resilience to High-Impact Hydro-meteorological Events through Strengthening Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems in Small Island Developing States (SIDS) and South-East Asia (SEA)” was held at the Heritage Park Hotel, Honiara, Solomon Islands. The meeting was attended by 28 participants from 11 Pacific SIDS (Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu), as well as from Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
The meeting was officially opened by Mr. Chanel Iroi, Permanent Representative (PR) of the Solomon Islands to WMO. Mr. Iroi welcomed the participants to the Solomon Islands and to the firstt Project Steering Committee of the CREWS Projects. This was followed by opening remarks from Mr. ‘Ofa Fa’anunu, PR of Tonga and vice president of WMO Regional Association V (South-West Pacific). The meeting also elected Mr. Fa’anunu as Chair of the Project Steering Committee (PSC).
Main outcomes of the meeting included the work plan for 2017 and 2018 and the Terms of Reference for the PSC.
Mr ‘Ofa Fa’anunu (2nd from the right) chairing the meeting, accompanied by Mr Ravind Kumar (Fiji), Mr Chanel Iroi (Solomon Islands) and Mr Raymond Tanabe (USA). Photo credit: Mr Henry Taiki, WMO
Participants at the PSC Meeting for the CREWS-Canada Project (Right to Left: Mr Scott Power (Australia), Ms Nancy Raeke (Solomon Islands), Mr Barnabas Bago (Solomon Islands, Mr Mulipola Ausetalia Titimae (Samoa) and Mr Tile Tofaeono (Samoa). Photo Credit: Mr Henry Taiki, WMO