Media were not deliberately excluded from Tuesday’s signing of the Solomon Islands-United States Shiprider Agreement, Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (OPMC) says.
The media could not witness the signing event due to last-minute change in arrangements caused by poor weather and safety concerns, it added.
OPMC was responding to an In-depth Solomons report that highlighted the signing ceremony proceeded aboard the visiting U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane without the media.
A week before Tuesday’s signing, the US Embassy in Honiara sent out invitations to media outlets to cover the event. On Tuesday afternoon however, members of the local media learned the signing had already taken place.
According to OPMC, the ceremony had originally been scheduled to take place after the Harriet Lane berthed at the Honiara wharf, allowing invited guests and the media to attend.
However, it said unfavourable weather prevented the vessel from coming alongside the wharf after the ship’s crew assessed that high swells posed a safety risk.
“The U.S. side accordingly sought advice from the Solomon Islands side and presented two options: to proceed with the ceremony aboard the vessel, or to postpone until the following day,” OPMC said in a statement.
“The decision from the Solomon Islands side was to proceed with the ceremony on the deck of the ship,” added.
OPMC said government officials attended the ceremony as witnesses and that a media statement was issued afterwards.
It added that Prime Minister Matthew Wale, the responsible minister and the United States representative later posed for photographs with the signed agreement during an official dinner.
“The change in arrangements was therefore a practical response to weather and safety conditions – not an attempt to exclude the media or conceal the event from the public,” the statement said.
The Prime Minister’s Office also said Cabinet approved the agreement more than a month ago through the normal government process and said the document would soon be made publicly available.
“It contains no non-disclosure clauses preventing either party from making it publicly available,” OPMC said.
A security agreement the former Sogavare government signed with China in Beijing in 2022 was kept strictly secret with a non-disclosure clause that prevented either party for making it publicly available.
