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Frank Bainimarama - Source: ONE News -
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Climate change, economic development and Fiji are expected to top the agenda at the Pacific Islands Forum in Cairns this week.
Fifteen heads of government as well as more than 450 delegates will take part in the three-day forum, which starts on Tuesday and is being held on Australian shores for the first time in 15 years.
Fiji has not been invited, member nations voted to suspend the country after military commander Frank Bainimarama abandoned plans to hold democratic elections.
The event will see New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd seated alongside their counterparts from tiny island states such as Tuvalu and Kiribati.
Aid group Oxfam says the leaders of the region's two economic powerhouses need to take urgent action on climate change to prevent the destruction of several island nations.
Oxfam Australia executive director Andrew Hewett says many smaller nations, some standing just a few metres above sea level, were already feeling the effects of climate change.
"What we want Australia to do is, of course, to reduce emissions but also to help Pacific island nations to cope with the consequences," Hewett says.
ONE News Pacific Correspondent Barbara Dreaver will be at the forum and be providing coverage for ONE News and tvnz.co.nz from Wednesday.
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