Heads of Immigration agencies from 10 members states from across the Pacific will
be attending the 55 th Pacific Immigration Development Community Board (PIDC)
meeting that is returning to Samoa since 2018. The Board will convene on the 14th
and 15th 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
January, 2024 at 9am at the Taumesina Island Resort.

Notes to Editors
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.
The work of the PIDC is coordinated by a permanent secretariat based in Apia,
Samoa. For further information contact the Head of Secretariat, Mr. Akuila Ratu on
telephone 29107 or email akuila.ratu@pidcsec.org or Nanai Sovala Agaiava on email
sovala.agaiava@pidsec.org.
General information about the PIDC can be found at www.pidcsec.org