Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown has been on a busy visit to Fiji ahead of the Pacific Islands Forum later this year.

PM Brown has met with Samoan Prime Minister Afioga Fiame Mata’afa during the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Special Leaders Retreat in Nadi.

Both leaders exchanged views on a number of issues including economic recovery opportunities and challenges, access to finance, workforce retention, global advocacy on Pacific priorities and ensuring a strong, prosperous and unified Pacific.

In addition to the Cook Islands assumption of PIF Chair responsibilities at the end of this week, and hosting of the PIF Leaders meeting within the last quarter of this year, the two leaders also touched on Samoa’s hosting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) in 2024 as valuable opportunities to support the development aspirations of the region.

PM Brown also met with his Tongan counterpart Siaosi Sovaleni in the margins of the Pacific Islands Forum Special Leaders Retreat which concluded last night.

The two leaders exchanged views on a number of issues, including economic recovery opportunities and challenges, access to finance, workforce retention and deep-sea minerals development.

Both leaders also committed to working together with Fiji, as the troika of the Pacific Islands Forum, and the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, to ensure the continued solidarity and unity of the Pacific Islands Forum, and to deliver on regional priorities as articulated by Leaders in the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent approved by PIF Leaders in July 2022.

Tonga will host the leaders meeting in 2024.

Meanwhile, Pacific Island Forum secretary-general Henry Puna, the former prime minister of Cook Islands, has been photographed embracing Kiribati President Taneti Maamau in Nadi, suggesting the nearly two years of tensions have been resolved.

Kiribati, which announced its withdrawal from PIF last year, is back in the fold and the Micronesian nation’s return to the Forum family was a key focus of the special meeting.

The Micronesian nation pulled out of the Forum in Fiji last year in protest of the appointment of Puna as secretary-general of the Forum.

However on Wednesday, Maamau was greeted by Puna when he arrived at the Special Leaders Retreat.

“The Pacific Way.” Puna tweeted, alongside a video showing the two men sharing a warm embrace.

“No words needed,” he added, suggesting that over two years of division and tensions are in the past.

Puna’s appointment in 2021 sparked a threat by the five Micronesian members to pull out of the Forum after their candidate, who they believed had been promised the job, was overlooked. In the end, only Kiribati withdrew.

Palau’s President, Surangel Whipps Jnr has confirmed to RNZ Pacific that the Micronesian bloc has agreed to endorse Nauru’s former president, Baron Waqa, to be the next Forum secretary-general.

• Additional reporting by RNZ