A team from the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat have been in Wallis and Futuna to assess the merits of a request from French territory to become an associate member of the Forum.
Its main objective is to gauge Wallis and Futuna's capacity to represent itself and degree of empowering and autonomy in terms of decision-making.
The territory has a French administrators but also three traditional kings.
The other two French Pacific entities, New Caledonia and French Polynesia, became Forum associate members three years ago, while Wallis and Futuna became an observer.
