The 41st Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting opened in the Vanuatu capital of Port Vila on Wednesday. A theme of economic development and addressing the needs of the Pacific islands' most vulnerable have been set by the host nation. Trade, aid, climate change, fisheries management, security and Fiji situation will be high on the agenda of the Forum meeting. Addressing the opening ceremony, the new Forum rotating chairman, Vanuatu Prime Minister Edward Nipake Natapei called for strengthening of regional cooperation and boosting of the capacity to respond to global economic crisis. The Pacific Islands Forum is an inter-governmental organization which aims to enhance cooperation between the independent countries of the Pacific Ocean and represent their interests. It was founded in 1971 as the South Pacific Forum and changed to Pacific Islands Forum in 2000.