Heads of Immigration agencies from 10 member states from across the Pacific will be attending the 55th Pacific Immigration Development Community Board (PIDC) meeting, returning to Samoa since 2018.
The Board will convene on the 14th and 15th of March at a conference facility close to its headquarters office on the 3rd Floor of the Development Bank Samoa Building. The Board, at its meeting in Palau in October 2023, determined it fitting to bring this week’s meeting to Samoa. The PIDC Board meets three times a year, with one of these sessions hosted as a virtual convention.
The PIDC Board is currently chaired by Mr. Jefferey Markson, the Head of Vanuatu Immigration. The composition of the Board includes three permanent members and 8 members elected annually at PIDC’s Regular Annual Meeting.
In addition to the Board Meeting, PIDC will be welcoming more than 40 Immigration officers from across the Pacific for a week-long workshop to be held at the Taumeasina Island Resort from Monday, 18th to Friday, 22nd March 2024.
This regional workshop intends to pull together selected senior immigration officers from across the region to draw on their experiences and strengthen regional efforts in sharing targeted information. The participants will include highly experienced immigration officers, managers, and directors who are at the forefront of national and border security efforts, both at seaports and airports across the region.
The PIDC Secretariat was established in Fiji in 1996 as the Pacific Immigration Directors’ Conference. PIDC relocated to Samoa in 2016 under a Host Country Agreement with Samoa, and has since changed its name to the Pacific Immigration Development Community. PIDC is led by the Head of Secretariat and Management under the guidance of the PIDC Constitution and in collaboration with the PIDC Board.
The media is invited to attend the opening of the PIDC Workshop on Monday, 18th of March 2024, at 9 am at the Taumesina Island Resort.
The Pacific Immigration Development is a forum for official Immigration Agencies of the Pacific region. It was established in 1996 as a result of an initiative taken by the first PIDC, sponsored by the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. Twenty-one Pacific Island nations are members of the PIDC.
