Ika Mata Diaries - Cook Islands Day 1

There's a lot to like about travelling in the Pacific, but the sashimi - and the local derivations of the raw fish specialty dish found throughout the South Pacific, which in the Cook Islands is known as 'Ika Mata' - is the best you will find anywhere in the world. It's a perfect way to end a day's work.

The Prime Minister, The Hon. Henry Puna talks to FORU President Lefau Harry Schuster before opening the FORU Meetings

Rarotonga, Cook Islands and we're here for the Federation of Oceania Rugby Unions (FORU) Annual General Meeting. Representatives from all 14 of FORU's Member Unions, as well as representatives from Wallis et Futuna (an Associate Member of FORU) are attending this meeting  - all in all, 35 delegates are here to talk all things Pacific Rugby: to report on the activities of 2011 and thrash out some of the key issues for the year ahead.

The travel schedules here in the Cooks has allowed us an extra day which means we are running two days of workshops before the AGM on Wednesday.

Our meeting was opened today by the Prime Minister, the Hon. Henry Puna, a Rugby man no less (aren't they all in this part of the world), and after the formalities we settled into our first day of workshops.

Day 1 of our meetings in Rarotonga, Cook Islands

The focus of today's meetings was on improving our integration into the Olympic Movement. Executive Director of the Oceania National Olympic Committees (ONOC), Dennis Miller, was our guest and gave the Members a detailed presentation on Olympic Solidarity - the IOC's Development program funded through the revenues derived from broadcast rights. Member Unions (indeed all Olympic Sports) can apply for funding assistance across over 30 different program areas through the Olympic Solidarity Program managed by their respective National Olympic Committees. Access to Olympic Solidarity funding, and the excellent programs run by ONOC, is one of the major benefits of becoming an Olympic sport. More information on ONOC and their programs is available here

Dennis' presentation was followed by lengthy discussions on the need to ensure that the Rugby Sevens competitions for Men's and Women's was a success at Rio2016 - and what our collective and individual responsibilities were in this regard. Four years is a very short time in elite sport and as I have outlined in earlier posts, many countries have mobilised their considerable rugby resources to launch a serious bid for Gold in Rio and we have a lot of work to do to ensure we a) maximise the representation of our region in Rio and then b) ensure we perform at the Olympic Games.

The other big agenda item today was Women's Rugby. Elenoa Kunatuba, our recently appointed Women's Development Officer, led a session on the new FORU Strategic Plan, as it relates to Women's Rugby, and what steps are needed to successfully deliver our vision for the Women's Game in the region. Some great ideas came out of this session - a number of Unions around the world have started developing very innovative programs in this area - and we have looked at a couple of case studies from which to draw inspiration.

We've some big ticket items on the agenda for tomorrow including the competition scheules for 2013 and 2014; our Trust Development Grant Process (through which all our Member Unions receive funding assistance) and the activation of the new FORU Strategic Plan.