PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM SECRETARIAT Suva, Fiji Islands
PRESS STATEMENT July 31, 2002
Fiji has formalized a Combined Law Agency Group (CLAG) to combat crime, following the signing today in the capital, Suva, of a Memorandum of Understanding between more than 20 ministries, departments and agencies.
In his keynote address, Fiji's Minister for Home Affairs and Immigration, Hon Joketani Cokanasiga, said that organized transnational criminal activity posed a real threat to the people and communities of Fiji and the Pacific region, and was also a global issue.
It was imperative, the Minister said, to fight all forms of criminal activities on a coordinated front.
Similar CLAGs exist in the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. However, Fiji is the first to formalize the CLAGs through an MOU and has also developed a Guidelines Manual for the operation of the group.
The 16-member Pacific Islands Forum, at their...