Page 35 - IB AUG 2019

People

Danny Rae Costello Leo A. Falcam Jr. and David W. Panuelo Deborah Weiss Ritesh Dass
PNG’s Petroleum Resources Gobe has a new Chairman, Two new directors have been appointed to copper and gold ex-
Mathew Sisimolu. His predecessor Philip Kende was in the role plorer, Kalia Limited. Former Nautilus Minerals and Placer Dome
for more than 20 years. miner Michael Johnston and accountant Jonathan Reynolds
have been appointed to the company, which works primarily in
Former Vanuatu Attorney General and Supreme Court Judge Bougainville.
Hamlison Bulu has been appointed as the country’s new Om-
budsman. He also served with the State Law Office and was PNG Police Superintendent Philip Mitna is the first Royal
involved in drafting Vanuatu laws. Papua New Guinea Constabulary employee to hold a PhD. Mitna
graduated from the Australian National University after complet-
Former PNG Foreign Affairs Minister Rimbink Pato is now the ing research focused on PNG’s foreign policy in the 21st century.
Prime Minister’s Special Envoy on PNG’s foreign matters. He has
already attended the Pacific Exposition organised by Indonesia Fiji citizen Rachel Subusola Olutimayin is Solomon Islands
in New Zealand in his new role. Pato is a prominent lawyer and new Director of Public Prosecutions. After a stint with the Regional
was first elected to parliament in 2012. Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) she has served
with roles in the public solicitor’s office and DPP. She replaces the
West Papua leader Benny Wenda has been awarded the free- long serving Ronald Bei Talasasa.
dom of the city of Oxford. The city’s Lord Mayor Craig Simmons
said the accolade was “well-deserved” and Wenda was “con- The Fiji’s Citizens’ Constitutional Forum (CCF) has appointed
tributing so much both locally and on the international stage”. Louchrisha Hussain as its CEO. Hussain first joined the com-
Wenda was granted political asylum in the UK in 2002 and opened munity education and advocacy organization in 2015 as a project
the Free West Papua Campaign headquarters in Oxford in 2013. support officer before becoming CCF’s programme manager.

Former Papua New Guinea Chief Justice Sir Salamo Injia will IN MEMORIUM
be heading the Commission of Inquiry into the Union Bank of Palau and the region has mourned the death of Thomas Re-
Switzerland (UBS) loan. The inquiry will investigate a $US2.1 mengesau Sr, the fourth president of Palau, who passed away at
billion state loan from UBS which was used to buy a stake in the age of 89. Remengesau Sr. was the first Palauan to serve as
Oil Search. district administrator in the 1970s, which was the highest post
in Palau. The island was part of the Trust Territory of the Pacific
Joel Abraham and Kalpana Lal have been appointed to Fiji Islands administered by the U.S. government at the time. His son
National Provident Fund Board. Abraham is the current CEO of is current President Tommy Remengesau Jr.
the Fijian Competition and Consumer Commission, while Lal is the
Head of Administration and Finance at GIZ – Germany’s leading Iconic Pacific musician, song writer and producer, Daniel Rae
provider of international cooperation services. Costello has passed away after a long battle with cancer. Costello
created his Caribbean-influenced Pacific music from his Lautoka,
PNG’s Ambassador to Brussels, Joshua Kalinoe will lead the Fiji home and later in Samoa, where he and his family moved.
Committee of Ambassadors of the African, Caribbean and Pacific
(ACP) Group of States in Brussels between now and 31 January A tourism leader in Fiji and the Pacific, Dixon Seeto died in
2020. Meanwhile the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Australia in late July. Seeto made significant contributions to
Papua New Guinea, Soroi Eoe will assume the presidency of the Pacific tourism for more than 20 years. He was the President of
ACP Council of Ministers. the Fiji Hotel & Tourism Association and a member of the South
Pacific Tourism Organisation’s Board at the time of his passing.
Outoing Nauru justice secretary, Graham Leung has joined
the International Seabed Authority (ISA). The ISA is responsible, Former Fijian soldier Seniloli Tabuatausole died in Libya
under the Law of the Sea Convention, for managing the seabed when the vehicle he was travelling on was hit by a car bomb in
and ocean floor beyond national jurisdiction. Leung is a former early August. Tabuatausole, was a member of the United Nations
president of the Fiji Law Society and a prominent Fijian lawyer Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL).
and civil servant.

Islands Business, August 2019 35