The 29th Pacific Islanders Club Meeting was successfully concluded on Monday, November 13. Over 80 people attended the meeting, which was the first time in four years since December 2019 that the meeting was held only at the venue.

The theme of this meeting was “The Past 30 Years and the Next 30 Years: The relationships between Pacific islands and Japan”. As we approach the significant milestone of PALM10 (Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting) scheduled for next year, Professor Izumi Kobayashi at Osaka Gakuin University and President of the Pacific Association of Japan, engaged in a dialogue with Mr. Kazuo Kodama, former Director of the Oceania Division at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs who made great efforts in establishing the Pacific Islands Summit and the Pacific Islands Center (PIC) and spoke about the 30 years of history to date and messages for the next 30 years. The discussion was deeply moving in a sense for those who have been involved with pacific island countries for a long time, and fresh and stimulating for those who have just started to build relationships with them.

During the networking session in the latter half of this event, many people actively exchanged opinions, which gave momentum to further strengthening the relationship between Japan and the Pacific Island countries in the future. Now that the Pacific Island countries are attracting more attention than ever before, we will continue to strive for the advancement of these countries, aiming for even greater leaps forward.