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MINISTERIAL MEETING ON POPULATION AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN THE PACIFIC

Ministers and senior officials from Pacific Island States and Territories met in Port Vila, Vanuatu from 9-10 September 1993 to identify key population and development issues of concern to the region and, on the basis of this, formulate policy positions to be used during preparations for, at, and in the follow-up to the ICPD. Ministers and representatives of Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Guam, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and Western Samoa adopted the Port Vila Declaration on Population and Sustainable Development at the conclusion of the meeting. The Port Vila Declaration is modeled on the outline for the Cairo Document and focusses on the unique attributes of the Pacific region as reflected in: the central role of custom and tradition; the strong affinity of the people with the land; vulnerability to natural disasters; and the unique challenges faced as a consequence of history and geography, including widespread dispersal across the largest ocean in the world.