Japan and Pacific Island leaders have identified five priority areas of cooperation to strengthen their partnership and work to achieve their visions for their nations and the region.

The consensus was reached at the conclusion of the 9th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM9) which was held virtually and co-chaired by the Prime Ministers of Japan and Tuvalu Suga Yoshihide and Kausea Natano.

Mr Natano is currently the Chair of the Pacific Islands Forum comprising 13 member states and one associate member. 

The leaders who attended the virtual PALM9 Summit represented Japan, Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Fiji, French Polynesia, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Republic of Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Republic of Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

At the conclusion of the summit, the PALM9 Leaders Declaration was released to provide overall guidance for further enhancing the PALM partnership and for achieving their vision for the region.

The PALM leaders also expressed their commitment to working together on five priority areas of cooperation for the next three years, to strengthen the PALM partnership and achieve their visions.

The five priority areas of cooperation include: COVID-19 response and Recovery; Sustainable Oceans and Rule of Law; Climate Change and Disaster Resilience; Strengthening Foundation for Sustainable and Resilient Economic Development; and People-to-People Exchanges and Human Resource Development.

In his closing remarks, Mr Natano said as one Blue Pacific they seek to build a region of peace, harmony, security, social inclusion and prosperity for all Pacific people.

He also thanked Prime Minister Suga for an informative discussion on the Blue Pacific and Japan's decision to discharge ALPS Treated Water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean.

"We seek to continue our dialogue and the sharing of scientific information, recognising the potential hazards and impact of such a discharge on the ocean environment and the health of peoples in our region," he said.

Mr Natano said PALM9 has reinvigorated their partnership and set a forward plan for collaboration on issues of critical importance to the region and the world.

This includes the region’s COVID-19 response and recovery, climate change and disaster resilience; climate change induced sea level rise; sustaining the health and resilience of the oceans; sustainable and resilient economic development; and people to people links.

According to the Leaders Declaration, Prime Minister Suga explained that Japan has fulfilled its PALM8 commitment to robust development assistance as well as human resources development and people-to-people exchanges.

Prime Minister Suga had also announced Japan's commitment to the continuation of its robust development assistance and more than 5,500 people-to-people exchanges and human resources development for the next three years.