Ambassador Solo Mara is the Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF), since October 2019. Ambassador Mara began his career in May 1989 as a graduate trainee at the Ministry of Home Affairs and later on in the Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Over the years, Ambassador Mara rose through the diplomatic ranks to serve as Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs [2009-2011], High Commissioner to the United Kingdom [2011-2015] and Ambassador to the United States America [2015-2019]. In recognition of his 20 years contribution in the Diplomatic Service of the Republic of Fiji, Ambassador Mara received from the President of Fiji, His Excellency MajorGeneral [Ret] Jioji Konrote, the Fiji 50 Independence Commemorative medal at the State House on October 2020. Ambassador Mara holds a Master Degree in International Relations from the International University of Japan (1997) and a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Political Science from the University of the South Pacific (1988). He also received various diplomatic training at the Korean Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (2000) and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Australia [2006]. Ambassador Mara is married to Kerry Megan Mara and blessed with two daughters and two sons

Senator Mike Gabbard currently serves as chair of the Committee on Agriculture and Environment. He is also a member of the Committee on Judiciary and Committee on Government Operations.

Senator Gabbard represents Hawai‘i’s 20th Senatorial District and has served in the Hawai‘i State Senate since 2006. Gabbard served on the Honolulu City Council from 2003-2005. Born on January 15, 1948 in American Samoa, Senator Gabbard and his wife, Carol, have five children: Bhakti, Jai, Ryan, Tulsi, and Vrindavan. Senator Gabbard is a graduate from Choctawhatchee High School and received a B.A. in English from California State University, Sonoma in 1971. He continued his education, receiving an M.A. in Adult Education with emphasis on community college administration from Oregon State University in 1980.

The Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, Q.C., M.P., became Barbados’ eighth and first female Prime Minister on May 25, 2018.

Ms. Mottley was elected to the Parliament of Barbados in September 1994 as part of the new Barbados Labour Party Government.

Prior to that, she served as one of two Opposition Senators between 1991 and 1994. One of the youngest persons ever to be assigned a ministerial portfolio, Ms. Mottley was appointed Minister of Education, Youth Affairs and Culture from 1994 to 2001.

She later served as Attorney General and Deputy Prime Minister of Barbados from 2001 to 2008 and was the first female to hold that position.

Ms. Mottley is an Attorney-at-law with a degree from the London School of Economics, specialising in advocacy. She is also a Barrister of the Bar of England and Wales.

In 2002, she became a member of the Local Privy Council. She was also admitted to the Inner Bar, becoming the youngest ever Queens Counsel in Barbados.