8:30-8:45 am

Registration

8:45-9:00 am

Welcoming remarks by H.E. Moana Carcasses Kalosil, Prime Minister of Vanuatu

Speech

9:00-9:15 am

Opening remarks by Min Zhu, Deputy Managing Director, IMF

9:15-9:25 am

Photo op

9:25-9:45 am

Keynote speaker: Prof. Lino Briguglio, University of Malta, Head of the Economics Department and Small States Institute, “Economic Vulnerability and Resilience of Small States”

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9:45-10:45 am

Panel Discussion (10 minutes each)

○ Hon. Maki Simelum, Minister of Finance and Economic Management, Vanuatu

The Honorable Maki Simelum is the Minister of Finance and Economic Management in Vanuatu. He is a member of the Vanuaaku Party, and in 2012, he was elected to the Parliament of Vanuatu representing the Port Vila constituency. Before being appointed Minister, Mr. Simelum was the CEO of Asset Management Unit and Finance and Planning Manager at the National Bank of Vanuatu. He received his BA from the University of the South Pacific in Fiji and his Masters in Business Finance in Sydney, Australia.

○ Hon. Kensley Ikosia, Secretary of Finance, Micronesia

Mr. Kensley Ikosia has been Secretary of the Department of Finance and Administration since October 2012. Before this appointment, he was serving as the Director of the Office of Planning and Budget of the Yap State Government. He has served in a number of state and national capacities, including being the Deputy Director for the FSM Joint Compact Negotiations Secretariat, administering the work of the JCN Committee that was formed in 1997 to work on the renegotiated components of the Compact of Free Association with the United States that became effective in 2004.

○ Junichi Yamada, Senior Special Advisor, JICA

Mr. Junichi Yamada is currently the Special Senior Advisor at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Previously, he was Director General of JICA's Middle East and Europe Department as well as Director General for the Middle East and Europe Department. Mr. Yamada also served as Director General of Organizational Transition with the Japan Bank of International Cooperation and was a Director of Country Operation, overseeing India, Turkey, and Iran.

Mr. Yamada began his professional career with the Joined Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund. He was assigned Second Secretary at the Japanese Embassy in Myanmar (known then as Burma). Mr. Yamada holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Malaya and he received his Master's degree in Urban Planning from the University of Tokyo.

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○ Peter Allum, Assistant Director, Strategy Policy and Review Department, IMF

○ Lamin Leigh, Deputy Division chief, African Department, IMF

Mr. Lamin Leigh is presently a Deputy Division Chief in the Southern 2 Division of the African Department, where his responsibilities include mission chief for Botswana and Namibia and coordinating the department's work on small middle-income countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to joining the African Department in 2007, he worked on a wide range of countries, including China, Hong Kong SAR, Sri Lanka, Romania and Kyrgyz Republic. He holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Nuffield College, University of Oxford and earned his B.A. from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, England.

10:45-11:00 am

Q&A

11:00-11:15 am

Tea/Coffee Break

11:15-11:30 am

Speaker: Andrea Iffland, Regional Director, Pacific Liaison and Coordination Office in Australia, Asian Development Bank: "Strengthening Regional Connectivity to Realize Growth Potential in the Pacific"

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11:30-11:45 am

Speaker: Yongzheng Yang, Resident Representative for the Pacific Islands, IMF: "Pacific Island Countries: In Search of a Trade Strategy"

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11:45 am-12:45 pm

Panel Discussion (10 minutes each):

○ Hon. Rick Houenipwela, Minister of Finance, Solomon Islands

The Honorable Rick Houenipwela joined the Central Bank of Solomon Islands in 1983. From 1983- 1988, he served in a number of senior management positions and from 1988 - 1993 served as Deputy Governor and 1993 - 2008 as Governor of the Bank. From 2008 - 2010, he served as Senior Advisor to the Executive Director, at the World Bank, Constituency Office EDS09. In 2010 he was elected Member of Parliament for Small Malaita Constituency, and was Minister for Public Service up to October 2011.

○ Sara Brites, Deputy Central Bank Governor, Timor-Leste

Ms. Sara Brites is Deputy Governor at Banco Central de Timor-Leste, and has previously been the National Director for the Treasury at the Ministry of Finance.





○ Daikichi Momma, IMF Executive Director for Japan

Mr. Daikichi Momma has been Executive Director at the IMF since August 2012. He represents Japan. A Japanese national, Mr. Momma received his BA in Economics from Tokyo University and MA in Economics from Cambridge University.

Throughout his career Mr. Momma has held various positions at the Ministry of Finance in Japan. Before taking the position of Executive Director at the IMF, Mr. Momma was the Deputy Director-General of the International Bureau at the Ministry of Finance. He was also Deputy Director General of the Office of Abduction Issues and Direct of the Budget and Accounting Division for the Defense Ministry. From 1997-1998, was the First Secretary and Counselor of the Japanese delegation to the OECD and from 1988-1999, was Assistant and Advisor to the Executive Director at the World Bank.

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○ Richard Neves, Financial Secretary, Cook Islands

○ Bryan Death, Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce and Industry

Mr. Bryan Death currently serves as the Vice Chairman of the Vanuatu Hotels and Resorts Association, Tourism Councilor of the Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Chairman of the Vanuatu Golf Open Committee. As Vice Chairman, Mr. Death maintains and distributes "Hotels and Resorts Occupancy Data" to the members and tourism associates, arrivals data compiled from the VSO monthly updates. He has been heavily involved in the Tourism Industry in Vanuatu since 2002.

Mr. Death has lived and worked in the Pacific Island in the tourism industry for 13 years and prior to that in the Hotel industry in Australia for 18 years. In Vanuatu, he served as General Manager Iririki Island Resort for 4 years from 2002 and later opened Moorings Hotel and The Havannah Resort. Through his Company TMS Limited Bryan provides management services to a number of private clients and also operates an online holiday letting business.

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○ Jeffrey Byrne, General Manager for Pacific Islands, Westpac

Mr. Jeffrey Byrne is Regional General Manager for Westpac Pacific Island Nations; a position he has held since October 2012. Jeffrey oversees Westpac's businesses in the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Cook Islands, Samoa and is also General Manager of Westpac Vanuatu, which is Westpac's regional hub outside of Fiji in the Pacific. Jeffrey is a graduate of the University of Sydney, a member of the Bankers Association of Vanuatu and Finance Industry Councilor for the Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Jeffrey was previously Head of Industry Specialization NSW in Westpac's Commercial Banking business. He fulfilled this role since 2009 and was responsible for building a sales and relationship management business in a number of key industry sectors. Prior to joining Westpac, Jeffrey spent 13 years at Macquarie Bank in NSW, holding a number of positions in Commercial Banking from Analyst through to Associate Director of Professional Service Industries.

12:45-1 pm

Q&A

1:00-2:00 pm

Luncheon

2:00-2:20pm

Speaker: Prof. Stephen Howes, Australian National University: “The Challenge of Climate Change in the Pacific Islands: What Role for Domestic and International Policies?”

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2:20-3:20 pm

Panel Discussion (10 minutes each)

○ Franz Drees-Gross, Country Director, Timor-Leste, PNG& the Pacific Islands, World Bank

Franz Drees-Gross became Country Director for Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands based in Sydney on 1 January 2013. Before coming to Sydney, Mr Drees-Gross managed the World Bank's infrastructure, environment and rural/social development portfolio in Indonesia from 2010-2013 including infrastructure projects from large dams and national highways to community health centers and environmental projects from forest protection to corral reefs.

Prior to Indonesia, Mr Drees-Gross worked as the World Bank's sector leader for the same technical areas in various countries of South America. Before joining the World Bank in 1997, Mr Drees-Gross worked in Africa as a US Peace Corps volunteer in a small town in Cote d'Ivoire and as a water supply/sanitation engineer in Peru and Yemen.

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○ Iulai Lavea, CEO, Ministry of Finance, Samoa

Mr. Iulai Lavea is currently the Chief Executive Officer for the Ministry of Finance, and has held that position since August 2009. Prior to that, he was the Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Policy Management) in the Ministry of Finance for over nine years. He had a brief stint as the Adviser to the Executive Director in the World Bank Constituency Office representing the Pacific based in Washington DC from 2006 to 2009. He has broad knowledge of development issues facing the Pacific economies having worked in the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat for the period 1991-96.

○ Hon. Tom Murdoch, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Kiribati

Mr. Tom Murdoch, Minister of Finance and Economic Development. Prior to this assignment Mr. Murdoch was a member of the Parliament. He also worked in the planning division of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and was the Deputy Secretary for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Internal and Social Affairs. Mr. Murdoch was also a member of Kiribati's delegations to a number of regional and international fora, i.e. the Forum Summits held in Nauru, Fiji and more recently Tonga, Forum Economic Ministers Meetings (FEMM) in Niue, Cook Islands, Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands early 2007, UNICEF, UNFCCC (New Delhi, 2000), SPC's CRGA and Conferences, the latest in Apia, Samoa 2007, plus a host of related but adhoc conferences and workshops.

Mr. Murdoch received his BA in Economics, Management, & Public Administration and MBA from the University of South Pacific and completed post graduate programs at Oxford University and The Hague in the Netherlands.

○ Hon. Dennis Momotaro, Minister of Finance, Marshall Islands

The Honorable Minister Dennis Momotaro has been an active entrepreneur in the private sector for 27 years, serving as an Assistant Manager and General Manager for one of the well- known corporations in RMI (Momotaro Corporation) from 1980 to 2007. He also served on the Boards of Directors in various businesses and organizations before being elected to the Nitijela (National Parliament), representing Mejit in the 2007 General Election. He was then appointed as the Minister of Transportation and Communication under then President Litokwa Tomeing. In 2011 and under the Presidency of H.E. Christopher J. Loeak, the Momotaro has been appointed Minister of Finance and by default serves as Governor of the Asian Development Bank representing Marshall Islands.

Mr. Momotaro was Board of Director at the Bank of Marshall Islands from 2001-2003 and Board of Director for the Marshall Islands Development Bank from 1999-2007. He also served as Chairman of the Government Committee to the National Economic and Social Summit in 2001.

○ Hon. Maatia Toafa, Minister of Finance, Tuvalu

Hon. Maatia Toafa, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, was appointed in August 5, 2013. Mr. Toafa served as Prime Minister of Tuvalu from 2004 to 2006, and in 2010. Mr. Toafa also served as Minister for Communication and Transport. Prior to entering domestic Tuvaluan politics as member of Parliament serving Nanumea, Mr. Toafa worked as a Project Officer for the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Suva, Fiji.

○ Janet Strachan, Head of the Section for Small States, Environment and Economic Management, Economic Affairs, Commonwealth Secretariat

Ms. Janet Strachan is Head of Small States, Environment and Economic Management at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London, working on sustainable development concerns with countries in Africa, Asia, Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific. She holds a Masters Degree in Environmental Policy from the London School of Economics. Ms. Strachan co-ordinates the Commonwealth Secretariat’s strategy on climate finance and small states issues, and organizes Ministerial dialogues. Recent areas of focus include: trade and climate change; sustainable development governance; and the Green Economy and green growth from a developing country perspective.

Ms. Strachan’s key publications include: Addressing Climate Change: What Does it Mean for Small States?; Adjusting to Climate Change at the Margins: Trade and Industry Policies for Smaller Developing Countries in a Carbon-Constrained World (forthcoming); Integrating Sustainable Development into National Frameworks: Policy Approaches for Key Sectors in Small States (Ed); and Trade, Climate Change and Sustainable Development: Key Issues for Small States, Least Developed Countries and Vulnerable Economies, by ICTSD and Commonwealth Secretariat (Ed.).

See the Background Paper

See the Presentation

3:20-3:45 p.m.

Q&A

3:45-4:00 pm

Tea/Coffee break

4:00-4:15 pm

Speaker: Patrizia Tumbarello, Unit Chief, Pacific Islands Unit, Asia and Pacific Department, IMF: "Fiscal Frameworks to Support Growth and Macro Stability"

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4:15-5:30 pm

Panel Discussion (10 minutes each):

○ Hon. Lisiate 'Aloveita 'Akolo, Minister of Finance, Tonga

Hon. Lisiate 'A 'Akolo was appointed as Minister for Finance & National Planning. Mr. 'Akolo also serves as the Member of the Board of Governors at the Asian Development Bank. He previously held the position of Minister of Labor, Commerce and Industries. Mr. 'Akolo is also the CEO of the South Pacific Tourism Organization and previously worked for the Tonga Commodities Board and Tongan Development Bank. Mr. 'Akolo is a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington and American University.

○ Filimone Waqabaca, Secretary of Finance, Fiji

Mr. Filimone Waqabaca was appointed Permanent Secretary for Finance by the Public Service Commission in February 2011. Prior to his appointment as Permanent Secretary, Mr. Waqabaca was Chief Manager of Financial Systems and Compliance, Advisor to the Executive Director in the IMF South East Asia office, and acting Chief Manager at the Reserve Bank of Fiji.

He is a board member of Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority, Reserve Bank of Fiji and Fijian Holdings Limited and is a member of University of the South Pacific Council, National Disaster Management Council, and the National Financial Inclusion Taskforce. Mr. Waqabaca obtained his BA degree from the University of the South Pacific and a Master of Science in International Banking and Financial Studies from the University of Southampton, United Kingdom.

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○ Hon. Don Polye, Minister for Treasury, Papua New Guinea

Mr. Don Pomb Polye is a senior Papua New Guinean politician from Enga Province and currently the Minister for Treasuries of Papua New Guinea. He has been a Cabinet Minister under two Prime Ministers to date, and was briefly deputy Prime Minister from July to December 2010. Earlier, he has held Foreign Affairs, Immigration, Transport, Civil Aviation, Finance and Treasury portfolios.

Polye was first elected in 2002 to the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea representing the Kandep Open electorate as a member of the National Alliance Party. He was the Minister for Transport and Civil Aviation from 2006 to 2009.

○ Adrien Mourgues, Attaché Coopération, European Union

Mr. Adrien Mourgues is currently European Union Degelgation's International Aid Coopération Attaché in Vanuatu. His portfolio covers several sectors including agricultural development, climate change, education, public works, economic growth, and rural development. Previously, Mr. Mourgues was Ingénieur d'Etudes at the Cooperation and Cultrual Action Service of the French Embassy in Vanuatu where he implemented a project to support noncommercial fishermen and conducted a feasiblity study for the establishment of a rural credit system for cooperatives.

Prior to his appointments in Vanuautu, Mr. Mourgues worked as a consultant in Togna and Senegal conducting agriculture research. He studied agronomy at the L'École Nationale Supérieure d'Agronomie et des Industries Alimentaires (ENSAIA) and received his Master's degree in Tropical Agriculture from the Centre National D'étude Agronomiques pour les Régions Chaudes (CNEARC) in France.

○ Richard Bontjer, Pacific Development Division, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia

Mr. Richard Bontjer is DFAT's Lead Public Financial Management Specialist in the Pacific Development Division. He has been in the role since early 2013. The role provides lead advice and technical direction on broader Public Financial Management across the Pacific development program.

Prior to joining DFAT, Mr Bontjer was a fiscal expert on the IMF panel of experts and senior fiscal specialist consultant to the World Bank. He was also on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Panel of Experts in Partnership for Democratic Governance (PDG) and led a number of budget reform projects. Mr Bontjer's experience includes Africa (Zimbabwe and Liberia), Central Asia (Afghanistan, Bangladesh) and the Asia-Pacific with a focus on fiscal affairs and public financial management. He worked for over a decade in the Australian Department of Finance. Mr Bontjer holds a Bachelor of economics (ANU) and is currently completing an executive Masters in Public Administration (ANZSOG/ANU).

○ Mike Burrell, Director of the Sustainable Economic Division, New Zealand Aid Programme

Mr. Mike Burrell is Director of Sustainable Economic Development at the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. His division focuses on sustainable economic development and human development, underpinned by investments in energy, infrastructure and governance. Mr. Burrell's development career spans work with the ADB, AusAID, NZAID, Oxfam and VSO, with a focus on the Pacific.

Prior to this, Mr. Burrell was the CEO of Aquaculture New Zealand. He was previously with consulting firm LECG, where he advised industry, government, and international agencies on economic development, strategy, and public policy. He was a VSO volunteer in Vanuatu and has a Master's Degree in development management from the London School of Economics.

5:30-5:45 pm

Q&A

5:45-6:00 pm

Closing remarks by Min Zhu, Deputy Managing Director, IMF; and Hon. Maki Simelum Minister of Finance, Vanuatu

7:30-10:30 pm

Melanesian Night Dinner offered by the Government of Vanuatu, at the Irririki Island resort. By invitation only