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MSG

The MSG headquarters in Vanuatu.
‘CAN DO’ SPIRIT FOR MELANESIA

LEONARD LOUMA TAKES CHARGE AT MSG

By Nic Maclellan In an exclusive interview, Louma told Islands Business: “My
priorities are very, very simple. First, I want to get our house
“In terms of the broad Melanesian Spearhead Group family, in order. I want to get the machinery of the Secretariat work-
my intention is to re-institute the spirit of ‘can do’ that char- ing properly.”
acterised the MSG when it was first formed in the 1980s.” Since his appointment, the new Director General has begun
That’s Leonard Louma, the new Director General of the an update of Secretariat processes, initiating a revised cor-
Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) Secretariat in Port Vila. porate plan, a realistic annual work program and “a robust
Appointed in February, the veteran PNG official and diplo- monitoring and evaluation system to determine what might be
mat has years of experience in regional affairs. Born in PNG’s our shortfalls and our strengths, and what needs to be done
Milne Bay Province, Louma has served in an array of senior to address some of the initiatives that have been taken in the
positions in the PNG Foreign Affairs Department and Office past.”
of the Prime Minister, and as Chief of Staff for the late Grand Another urgent task is to reassess the constrained financial
Chief Sir Michael Somare between 2005-11. status of the organisation: “I’m working around the clock to
The MSG Secretariat serves the five members of the sub- try and see if we can get the financial resources for the Sec-
regional organisation: Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Vanuatu, Solo- retariat to be replenished, to a level where we can be able to
mon Islands and the New Caledonian independence movement do things properly.”
Front de Libération Nationale Kanak et Socialiste (FLNKS). In Louma also stressed the need to update the MSG member-
a controversial decision at the 2015 MSG summit in Honiara, ship, through an annual report and regular consultations.
leaders also granted associate membership to Indonesia “rep- “We answer to our owners, and this is the members,” he
resenting the five Melanesian provinces in Indonesia”. At the said. “We also are accountable for resources that come to
same time, MSG leaders agreed that “the United Liberation us from our partners. A delay in an annual report, for me,
Movement of West Papua (ULMWP) be admitted as an observer does not go well with confidence from both our owners and
under the regional and international category representing our partners, in terms of what we are doing. They can then
Melanesians living abroad.” Since then, ULMWP – a coalition provide us with the necessary guidance and the necessary
of West Papuan nationalist groups – has continued to lobby for financial wherewithal to do our work.”
full MSG membership.
The 2015 Honiara summit laid out an ambitious MSG A spirit of ‘can do’
program on trade, transport, digital connectivity and labour Evoking the ‘can do’ spirit that exemplified the early days
mobility, framed by an overarching regional strategy – the of the MSG, Louma highlighted the 1980s campaign against
‘MSG 2038 Prosperity for All Plan’. But recent years have been French nuclear testing and the MSG’s central role in the
challenging for the sub-regional Secretariat, exacerbated by re-inscription of New Caledonia on the UN list of non-self-
the travel restrictions and economic challenges of the COVID governing territories (adopted by the UN General Assembly in
pandemic. Outgoing MSG Director General Amena Yauvoli December 1986).
of Fiji ended his term in early 2020, and his deputy George “I was a junior officer in Foreign Affairs when it was first
Hoa’au has served as Acting Director General since that time. canvassed in the early 1980s in Forum circles,” he explained.
With the region facing a complex and crowded agenda, “Not many were very confident that we’d be able to get it
amid US-China tensions, Louma now brings extensive dip- through, in the face of France’s diplomatic clout. But MSG
lomatic experience to the MSG. Now it’s time to focus on pushed on, got the support from the Forum, then went out to
Melanesia. the Non-Aligned Movement and to the Commonwealth. Then

Islands Business, May-June 2022 35