The two-day forum, which closes on Thursday, was attended by ministers, senior officials and representatives of Australia, New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Timor Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Representatives from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF) were also among the participants, while observers representing China, France, Japan, South Korea and the United States were also present.

The forum started with a “high-level dialogue” on Wednesday, which produced a 26-paragraph document called the “Bali Message for Development Cooperation in the Pacific” that outlined issues in the region and ways forward.

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said the Bali Message contained the commitments of Indonesia and Pacific nations to strengthen their partnerships.

“The Bali Message also reiterates Indonesia's commitment to concretely implement its ‘Pacific Elevation’ vision through technical assistance and more intensive developmental aid,” Retno told a press conference after the meeting.

She was referring to a diplomatic strategy for the Pacific that Jakarta introduced in 2019.

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