Micronesian leaders abandon demands for the current secretary-general of the Pacific Islands Forum to step down immediately, allowing him to serve out his term until 2024.
President of the Federated States of Micronesia David Paneulo said the deal meant that a "big dark cloud hanging over the Pacific" had now "evaporated".
"Just a few days ago, it could have been that we walked away and broke up the entire Pacific family, but the common ground that we reached has kept us together," he said. Palau's President Surangel Whipps — who led the charge for Micronesia to withdraw from the forum after their candidate for secretary-general was defeated in a tight leadership ballot — said he and his fellow regional leaders were keen to strike an agreement that would allow PIF to stay whole."The meetings today and in the past few days have been how to reconcile our differences, how to move forward in a way that brings the Pacific together.
"At the end of the day, we believe it was Micronesia's turn to have a secretary-general. But now we will respect that there is a person in there now," he said."But at the end of his term, a Micronesian is going in for sure. And there's no more changing that because now we've agreed that it will continue to rotate through the islands."
The deal would also create a new architecture within the Pacific Islands Forum to ensure greater representation for Micronesia.
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