By Gérard Baudchon
NOUMEA, New Caledonia (December 6, 1999 – PIDP/CPIS)---Mrs. Lourdes Pangelinan, Second Deputy Director of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) since January 1996, has been chosen by the Committee of Representatives of Governments and Administrations (CRGA) as its candidate for the position of Director General of the SPC, according to New Caledonia private radio station RRB (Radio Rhytme Bleu),
A total of 12 candidates originally ran for the position. Then, in July, a screening committee chose five as finalists: a Fijian, an Australian, a New Zealander, Dr. Jimmy Rodgers (Solomon Islands, now First Deputy Director) and Mrs. Lourdes Pangelinan (Guam, Chief of Staff for former Governor Joseph Ada, until 1994).
The CRGA, now meeting in Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia, had to choose one person from among the five finalists to be proposed to the conference as future director.
The conference will be in session for two days,...