PRESS STATEMENT (17/08)
26th March 2008
FORUM OFFICIALS COMMITTEE APPROVES PIFS 2008 REVISED BUDGET AND WORK PROGRAMME
The Forum Officials Committee (FOC), the governing body of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, has approved the revised 2008 Budget and Work Programme of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS) out of session.
The PIFS 2008 Budget and Work Programme was presented to the pre-Forum FOC Meeting in Tonga last September. FOC noted the recent extra demands placed on the Secretariat resulting from an increasing range of activities, including the advancement of the Pacific Plan, and the pressure that this has placed on available financial resources and asked that the work programme and budget be revised to reduce operational costs, prioritise initiatives, and identify the highest priority activities within existing resources.
In consultation with FOC, PIFS revised the 2008 budget and work programme as requested. It was approved out of session last week.
PIFS 2008 revised budget now stands at FJD$37m compared to that originally presented to FOC in September of FJD$43m
ENDS.