New Zealand's Pacific Island Affairs Minister Georgina te Heuheu says this country has an important role to play in Pacific education
Mrs te Heuheu is representing New Zealand on behalf of the Education Minister Anne Tolley at the Pacific Islands Forum Education Ministers' meeting in Tonga along with 16 other Pacific countries.
She says New Zealand is looking foward to addressing education priorities identified in the review called for by Ministers when they last met in 2007.
"We'll debate the future of of a regional education initiatives and I guess have a good look at the Forums Pacific Education plan while doing that obviously we'll be looking to strengthen the strong bonds that we've got particularly with the pacific nations and to create a stronger profile for New Zealand as well."
Other countries taking part are Australia, Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
