Yoon to hold summits with leaders of 5 Pacific island nations Sunday

President Yoon Suk Yeol will hold a series of bilateral summits with the leaders of five Pacific island nations in Seoul over the weekend, his office said Saturday.

Yoon will hold talks with Kiribati’s President Taneti Maamau at his office at 3 p.m. on Sunday, followed by Tongan Prime Minister Siaosi Sovaleni and Prime Minister Kausea Natano of Tuvalu.

He will also hold summits with Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau and Prime Minister James Marape of Papua New Guinea, according to Yoon’s office.

The leaders of the Pacific island nations are visiting Seoul to attend the first summit between South Korea and Pacific island nations to be held Monday and Tuesday.

The summit will be held under the theme “Navigating towards Co-Prosperity: Strengthening Cooperation with the Blue Pacific,” with the participation of leaders and senior officials from all 18 members of the Pacific Islands Forum, an intergovernmental body aimed at enhancing cooperation among island countries in the region.

The 18 members are Papua New Guinea, Fiji, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Tonga, Palau, Niue, Nauru, Kiribati, the Federated States of Micronesia, Samoa, the Cook Islands, Australia, New Zealand, French Polynesia and New Caledonia.

Source: Yonhap News Agency