Chief Secretary to Government, Sir Manasupe Zurenuoc, visited Fiji from 02 -05 March, 2014 and met with relevant Fijian authorities to discuss the specifics of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Papua New Guinea and Fiji relating to the K50 million electoral assistance pledged by Prime Minister Hon. Peter O'Neill during the State visit to PNG by Interim Prime Minister of Fiji, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama on 16 April 2013.
Sir Manasupe was accompanied by Mr. Andrew Trawen, PNG Electoral Commissioner, Ms Hera Kevau, Acting High Commissioner to Fiji, Mr Frank Aisi, Director International Relations Unit, Department of Prime Minister & NEC and Mr Cephas Kayo, Acting Director, Pacific, Australia & New Zealand Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs. The two day visit enabled the visiting delegation to meet with Minister responsible for Elections and Attorney General, Mr Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum, Permanent Secretary for Office of the Prime Minister, Lt. Col. Pio Tikoduadua, Permanent Secretary for Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Permanent Secretary for Finance, Permanent Secretary for Elections, Solicitor General and other respective authorities. The discussions enabled PNG and Fiji to reach understanding on areas of assistance and timelines for the remittance of the first tranche of K25 million. The discussions on the MOU focused on specific areas where the first tranche of K25 million will be disbursed and utilized to assist with delivering a free, fair and transparent democratic elections in Fiji in September this year. These areas include; supply of ballot papers, voter awareness, allowances for polling officials and others. There was also discussion on the deployment of a PNG Observer Team to monitor the elections. The funding for the electoral assistance it was agreed would be through the PNG Treasury and Finance Departments and the Fiji Finance Department. The electoral assistance would be disbursed in two tranches with the first tranche for direct election support as discussed above in 2014 and for the remaining K25 million to be delivered in 2015 for parliamentary reform processes. The Chief Secretary emphasised the need to work within timelines and provide details for the electoral assistance and the need for accountability to the PNG constituency. The MOU was finalised after the consultations and a date is expected to be confirmed soon for the signing of the said MOU. It was agreed for the signing of the MOU to be between Chief Secretary and the Permanent Secretary of the Fijian Prime Minister’s Office. Comments are closed.
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