THE Hon Minister of Home Affairs has completed successful meetings in Samoa on 29 and 30 October 2024.
Convened by the Minister of Sport of Samoa, Hon Laumatiamanu Mathew Ringo Purcell, and the President of the World Anti-Doping Agency, Mr Witold Bańka, Hon Ministers responsible for sport and anti-doping met in Apia, Samoa to discuss the importance of integrity and fairness in sport in Oceania.
This was the first such meeting held in the region. Hon Ministers took the opportunity to exchange ideas on the promotion of an anti-doping culture supported by testing, education for prevention as well as investigations using intelligence across nations. Hon Ministers recognised the importance of meeting their national commitments to the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport and the World Anti-Doping Code and supported their strong wish to collaborate closely within the region to protect clean sport, promote the value of sport and benefit from each other’s experience. This would be further facilitated by meeting every 2 years to assess progress.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Hon Isikeli Vave, shared the successes and challenges of Solomon Islands with his counterparts and WADA. These included training over 20 Doping Control Officers and chaperones thanks to hosting the 2023 Pacific Games and with support from the Oceania Regional Anti-Doping Organisation, testing 317 athletes during the Games with 800 athletes and athlete support personnel (ASP) going through ORADO’s outreach programme. In terms of challenges, the Hon Minister outlined the costs of doping control and transport of samples to Australia for analysis, the geography of the country and being able to motivate for a budget against other national priorities.
Attending the meeting were Ministers and representatives of American Samoa, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Zealand, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea Samoa Solomon IslandsTonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu
On 30 October 2024, the Hon Minister chaired a meeting of Pacific Sports Ministers with 13 Pacific nations represented. The key issues addressed by the Hon Ministers were the need to establish a full-time secretariat, governance and autonomy of sport and coordination in preparation for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Hon Ministers resolved to recommend to their Cabinets that a secretariat be established at the Pacific Community, pending a review of the regional architecture to take place in early 2025. The Hon Ministers considered and approved a paper on good governance which would lead to sports autonomy with various definitions to ensure all involved have the same understanding.
The Hon Ministers also noted their responsibilities in ensuring accountability for public funding and approved an approach to resolve any disputes in sport at a national level in the first instance. Finally, the Hon Ministers noted a progress report on the framework being developed to involve various stakeholders to improve the performance of athletes from the Pacific at the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Hon Ministers welcomed the addition of Australia, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Tonga and Vanuatu to the working group.
Said Hon Minister Vave: “It was an honour to chair the meeting of colleagues from across the region to discuss a number of important matters affecting sport and recreation. I was pleased with the unanimity of the meeting and the quality of the decisions made. I will be reporting formally to Cabinet and working with the Hon Prime Minister, in his capacity as Chair of the Forum Leaders, to promote the critical need for full-time support for the Ministers responsible for sport and recreation. We are committed to galvanise sport to support the outcomes of our national development plans, the SDGs and the regional strategic plan.”
