Forum media coordinator Derek Fox gives a candid overview of what we can expect over the next 10 days.

The 43rd annual Pacific Islands Leaders’ Forum moves from planning to reality over the next few days.

Sixteen countries make up the Forum, but a further 40 countries and international organisations like the United Nations and the World Bank will be sending representatives here too, because they want to talk to and do business with the Pacific states.

That business will be mainly political, and the countries coming include superpowers and the world’s largest economies. The Chinese will be here; India one of the world’s booming economies will be here, too. The Russians have belatedly indicated an interest, but nothing has been set in place yet; and the world’s worst kept secret – whether or not the American Secretary of State Hilary Clinton is coming – will be revealed any day now.

There are other countries coming, too distant from us and the Pacific that you may well wonder why; like Cuba, Israel, Singapore and Taiwan. The first three will be invited to the opening ceremony on Tuesday evening at the National Auditorium, and maybe hosted by Ministers.

Taiwan won’t be invited to anything, the Cook Islands’ government doesn’t recognise Taiwan, but a handful of other Pacific states do and the Taiwanese will no doubt be dialoguing with them outside of official Forum time.

Fiji is a member of the Forum but currently in the sinbin so won’t be here, although their flag will still be flown.

The other Forum members are Australia, the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

The two French Territories, French Polynesia and New Caledonia are Associate Members; both are coming, represented by their Presidents. Oscar Te Maru the President of French Polynesia arrives today; and as our first leader to arrive and our near neighbour he will be warmly welcomed by Prime Minister Henry Puna; the Turou includes pupils from Titikaveka College and a dance team.

Twelve other countries and organisations have Observer status, places like Tokelau, American Samoa and Timor-Leste; outfits like the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank and the United Nations will have observers here too.

The Forum proper will officially open next Tuesday evening at the National Auditorium at 5pm. But sidebar meetings of people coming for the Forum, who fit into other groupings, will begin on Saturday with the Polynesian Leaders’ meeting at Muri Beach Club Hotel.

Forum related meetings begin on Monday at the Edgewater hotel with the Smaller Island States Leaders’ meeting.

On Tuesday the Pacific members of the Africa-Caribbean-Pacific leaders group will meet at the Edgewater, too.

Most of the official delegations will arrive over the weekend and on Monday, but the Prime Ministers of New Zealand and Australia will arrive on Tuesday afternoon just hours before the opening ceremony. Both will come in air force jets; John Key in an RNZAF Boeing 757, and Julia Gillard in an RAAF Boeing 737.

Julia Gillard’s arrival is late enough – just two hours before the opening – that it’s been decided to drop her down the order to be the last leader to be carried into the Auditorium on a pa’ata; normally, because strict alphabetical order is maintained, she would have been carried in first.

Children will play a major part in the opening ceremony. Different schools have been allocated a Forum country; they have been swotting up on their allotted country and its leader and at the opening will accompany the leader into the auditorium and sit with that country’s delegation.

The opening will see John Key – who was chair of the Forum last year when it was held in Auckland, somewhat surprisingly around the same time as the Rugby World Cup – handover the chairmanship to the Cook Islands’ Prime Minister the Honourable Henry Puna.

Both the opening and the umu kai reception will be unusual in that they will both be public events allowing both general public and media to mix and mingle with the delegations causing some nervousness with visiting security people.

The opening will also see the first of the ‘real’ motorcades when the delegates will be taken in small groups from the Edgewater to the Auditorium between 4pm and 5pm; rehearsals have shown the journey will take 16 or 17 minutes.

The business session of the Forum starts at the Auditorium on Wednesday morning. Later that day the leaders will travel to Aitutaki where they will stay the night and hold something that has become normal in these types of conferences, a ‘retreat’ which will take place at Tapuaeta’i. Later that day the leaders will return to Rarotonga where the Prime Minister will host a ‘Kia Orana’ dinner for about 200 people giving Forum Delegates and Post-Forum Dialogue Partners like the Americans, Canada, China, the European Union, France, India and a number of Pacific Regional Organisations a chance to meet and mingle before the 24th Post Forum Dialogue Partners’ meeting at the National Auditorium.

More than 80 media representatives have registered to cover the Forum and its associated meetings, the biggest number from China; they cover all of the news genres like print, radio, television and agencies.

There will be official news conferences after each of the meetings outlined above with the Forum Chair Hon. Henry Puna, and the leaders of some of the countries are expected to conduct news conferences for their local media in addition to that.

In addition to the official meetings there will be a spouses’ programme organised by Mrs Puna. That programme takes in events in Rarotonga and Aitutaki.

This week will see hundreds of hours of planning coming to fruition. You will have seen bunting flags flying from a hundred power poles round Rarotonga. Pull-up banners and ‘tear-drop’ banners have been prepared and will be on display at special venues. Venues will also be decorated with lush and for many of our visitors, exotic Cook Islands flowers and plants, tivaivai too. Staff working on the Forum will wear island shirts and dresses.

More than 50 volunteer liaison officers and over 60 drivers have been recruited and given training to look after our visitors. The training has included a stab at what might be frequently asked questions about the Cook Islands and answers provided.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration protocol people have been preparing to receive the more than 500 delegates expected. Leaders will be presented with ‘ei and will go through a Turou on the tarmac, they will also be met by dancers and school children during child friendly hours.

Outside of the formal Forum sessions, dozens of ‘bilateral’ meetings are expected to take place where countries with mutual interests get together to talk them through.

The final formal event will be Post Forum Dialogue cocktails hosted by the Secretary-General of the Forum – Tuiloma Neroni Slade at Te Vara Nui on Friday night August 31.

While many of the delegates and visiting media will head home soon after the Forum, others will stay on to holiday, hold further talks and to explore the country.

With or without Hillary Clinton, the 43rd Forum will be the biggest international political event held so far in the Cook Islands.