PM LILO MAINTAINED IT’S SOLOMON’S TURN TO LEAD PIF

Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo has maintained it was Solomon Islands turn to lead the Pacific Islands Forum.

Prime Minister Lilo and various senior Government officials were in Koror, Palau for the Forum Leaders Summit last week, during which elections for the Forum General Secretary post was held.

But Solomon Islands candidate Dr Jimmy Rodgers Bird, lost out to Papua New Guinea’s Dame Meg Taylor during the elections.

The Prime Minister told a media conference at the Henderson International Airport on Friday, he did not have the advantage of resources to push effectively for the country’s bid.

“I just want to say this that I didn’t have the advantage of the resources to be able to push effectively, but that is non-Pacific, that is quite unlikely a Pacific concept that we used to know. This time around I believe it should be the turn for Solomon Islands being quite apart from Australia and New Zealand the third largest country in the Pacific we should be given the chance to lead this regional institution. It has gone out and we have commended Papua New Guinea for taking that position.”

While he admitted that he lost badly in the election he called for, Prime Minister Lilo also said the results of the election for the new PIF General Secretary was a non-Pacific consensus.

“But I’ve tried as much as I can to push it to the wire and eventually call for a final decision to be made democratically. Unfortunately, I lost badly in the democratic process and it is basically a non-Pacific consensus.”

Prime Minister Gordon Darcy Lilo and his delegation returned on Friday from a four-legged trip to Cuba, Palau, Taiwan and Indonesia.