Vanuatu Daily Post, By Fern Napwatt
Prime Minister Charlot Salwai has urged all Head of Missions to maintain Vanuatu’s national interest during their mission abroad as the sole purpose of their appointments.
In his speech to close the management sessions of the HoM’s meeting, PM Salwai reiterated that the update of the works of HoMs is very important to the country, as their appointments were based on merit, not their political affiliations.
“Vanuatu is part of the United Nations (UN) and is important that we continue to strengthen this relationship through our missions,” he said.
“There are a lot of issues that need to be addressed and Climate Change and West Papua remained as two prominent issues that Vanuatu has to addressed through its diplomats in regional and international meetings,” he said.
“So i urge you as HoMs to represent and seek assistance from our bilateral partners in the countries you are established and liaise between the government and line agencies on strategies and policies to further develop this country.”
PM Salwai reminded the HoM’s to keep Vanuatu’s reputation on the global stage for what it stands for and acknowledged the HoM’s for representing Vanuatu abroad.
In response to PM Salwai’s closing remarks, Vanuatu’s High Commissioner to Australia and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United Arab Emirates and Timor L’este, Kalfau George Kaloris said on behalf of the HoMs, that they will continue to implement instructions and policies set by the national government.
“We are grateful for the appointment that has shown the government’s and the people’s trust in us, we are faced with challenges at times, especially with multilateral positions but the national interests of our country remains paramount,” he said.
“Interactions at the highest level is important for this country and recommendations of future high level mission visits to other corners of this world will be organized-to pursue assistance for projects to develop Vanuatu.”
The HoMs have closed management meeting yesterday and will continue with workshops on Finance training and Immigration training for the remaining days of this week before they leave the country next week.
