The first ever Pacific Mission & NZ Blue Forum took place on the 21^st May 2021 at Minter Elision, 1 Whitmore Street, BNZ Building, Wellinton, NZ. Minter Elison lawyers are proudly hosting the Blue Forum.

The objectives of the forum are to bring Pacific Missions in Wellington and NZ communities (Government, private sector, and NGOs) together for ‘‘storian’ (talanoa) on matters of mutual interest; to enhance quality networking; and to forge mutually beneficial partnerships.

The speakers at the first Blue Forum were, the Chairperson of the Forum, HE Jimmy Nipo, the Vanuatu High Commissioner to NZ and Fraser Carson from Flightdec.

HE Nipo presented his insights on emergency response in the Pacific: the case of the recent Vanuatu 7.3 earthquake that stroke Port Vila on the 17^th of December 2024. He said, “We can learn lessons from emergencies that happen without warnings such as the recent earthquake in Port Vila.”  He alluded to the fact that the usual ‘evils’ of emergency response (poor communications, poor coordination, and lack of information leading to time lack and indecision) still haunt nations and communities of the pacific. The same stories about these problems linger.

Sadly, we have found no solutions yet and it is time we find one especially now that the intensity and frequency of disasters are increasing.

Mr. Fraser Carson from Flightdec presented his perspective on ways to improve coordination and information sharing. He said establishing live websites that talk to each other, thus enhancing fast and live information across multiple websites and across nations is the way to go to improve communication and information dissemination. This level of digital connectivity is possible if all pacific nations establish live websites that speak to other and off course, with sustained power and internet services.

All nation across pacific must have live websites now and during emergencies as these websites will automatically listen to each other and share live information i n real time. 

Mr. Carson said his organization has been working on this space – a recent development and client organizations including Vanuatu High Commission and Solomon Islands are benefiting from these live websites of their own. He pointed out that none other place in the world is in this space as people are still using conventional websites that have outdated information, and most are still looking to social media which are susceptible for dissdmianting toxic information.

It is time to upgrade to live Websites! Enough of hearing about the ‘evils’ of disaster response, management, and recovery.

The Blue Forum will take place on the 3^rd Wednesday of every month. Participants and speakers will be by invite.

Four (4) out of eight pacific missions were present yesterday, namely: Vanuatu, Samoa, Tuvalu, and PNG. Present were members of the private sector and NZMFAT. Participants and speakers for the next forum is under discussion.

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