Representatives of the Fiji Disabled People's Association and Pacific Disability Forum have this morning left the country for the Pacific Islands Forum Ministerial Meeting in Rarotonga, Cook Islands.

Persons with disabilities in the Pacific will be the main focus of the meeting which starts tomorrow and ends on Friday.

With the theme "Strengthening Partnerships for Disability Inclusive Development in the Pacific", the meeting in the Cook Islands will discuss, the Pacific Regional Strategy on Disability, a status report on disability development in the Pacific, key international and regional agreements on disability, NGOs in Pacific disability and disability in the national planning process.

Acting Secretary General Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Feleti Teo said this is a landmark meeting as it signals the first time that the Forum Secretariat has convened a ministerial meeting with a human rights focus.