PM Tuilaepa welcomes Pacific Islands Law Officers’ to their 38th annual meeting

PRIME MINISTER’S SPEECH – PILON ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Samoa 5^th November 2019

Introduction:

• Pastor Va’a Teueli,
• Members of the Judiciary,
• Excellencies High Commissioners of Australia and New Zealand,
• Attorney General’s, Directors of Public Prosecution, Senior Legal Officers,
• Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen.

On behalf of the Government of Samoa, I wish to extend a warm welcome to all the participating members of this 38^th Pacific Islands Law Officer’s (“PILON”) Annual Meeting.

Samoa last hosted this event in 2009. As Prime Minister and Minister overseeing the Office of the Attorney General, I am therefore happy to welcome back again PILON delegates, participants and officials, to Samoa.

I acknowledge the special support towards PILON from the Attorney General’s Office of Australia and the Crown Law Office of New Zealand. I am also happy to welcome all the delegates from our pacific region.

Special Welcome to the delegates from American Samoa, who I understand are attending their first PILON AGM, after becoming official members in 2017.

Message to Participants:

The Government of Samoa, continues to acknowledge and emphasise the significance of PILON as a forum for addressing law and justice issues common to countries within the pacific region.

I am therefore very pleased to note that many of our pacific colleagues have made the effort to travel here to take part in this meeting. The success of this gathering is dependent on the collective contribution of all our Pacific members.

I trust that by the end of this week, much will be achieved in terms of dialogue and addressing the common challenges faced by many, if not all members within our region.

This year’s PILON Annual Meeting provides once again an opportunity for members to undertake training, share ideas, and network with one another concerning relevant issues within the region.

We face certain challenges in our efforts to protect our citizens from criminal activities, and with the efforts of our law enforcement officers, such as the need for effective resourcing, technical skills, and where required, further changes to our laws.

The continued collaboration between our countries is therefore important, to help ensure the effective promotion and maintenance of law enforcement within the Pacific.

Moving forward, it is imperative that we continue and encourage the joint efforts between our countries within PILON, in the face of increasing and progressive criminal activity within the region.

I therefore encourage your continued work to address issues such as Fighting Corruption, Cybercrime and Gender Violence in the pacific region.

Having considered the matters to be discussed at this year’s annual meeting, I am pleased with the current initiative undertaken by PILON to address the more recent issues facing our Pacific societies today.

I encourage our legal minds within the Pacific to continue their efforts to devise ways to deal with and minimize the prevalence of such issues, and likewise any other issues which might pose genuine harm to societies within our region.

The Samoan government therefore welcomes the opportunity to be the current host country for the PILON Secretariat, to host this years’ Annual Meeting, and to further assist where we can, our PILON members with the fight against criminal activity.

Closing:

Finally, I understand that you all have a busy week ahead of you. On behalf of the Government of Samoa, I sincerely wish you all the very best as you prepare for your agenda.

On the same note, I trust and hope that you will be able to find some time to enjoy our beautiful island.

Without further ado, I hereby declare the 38^th Pacific Islands Law Officer’s Annual Meeting officially open.

Faafetai, Soifua.

Source : Press Release 

LOABAY NEWSLINE 

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