Feleti Teo

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The Honourable
Feleti Penitala Teo
OBE MP
Teo in 2016
14th Prime Minister of Tuvalu
Assumed office
26 February 2024
MonarchCharles III
Governor GeneralSir Tofiga Vaevalu Falani
Preceded byKausea Natano
Member of Parliament
Assumed office
26 January 2024
Preceded bySamuelu Teo
ConstituencyNiutao
Executive Director of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC)
In office
December 2014 – December 2022
Personal details
Born (1962-10-09) 9 October 1962 (age 61)
Political partyIndependent
SpouseTausaga Teo
Alma materUniversity of Canterbury
Australian National University
Occupation
  • Politician
  • civil servant
ProfessionLawyer

Feleti Penitala Teo OBE MP (born 9 October 1962) is a Tuvaluan politician and lawyer. He was elected to the Parliament of Tuvalu in the 2024 Tuvaluan general election, with his previous role being the executive director of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC).[1][2]

Teo was appointed as prime minister on 26 February 2024, after he was elected unopposed by the parliament.[3][4][5][6][7][8]

He is the son of Sir Fiatau Penitala Teo who was appointed as the first Governor General of Tuvalu (1978–1986) following independence from Great Britain.[9]

In December 2014 at the 11th regular session of the WCPFC in Apia, Samoa, he was appointed the executive director of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC),[10] and he continued in that role until December 2022. He was a former acting Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum (2008).[11] Teo has also served as Attorney General of Tuvalu (1991–2000) and Director General of the Forum Fishery Agency (2000–2006).[12][10]

Education

Feleti Teo received his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand, and a Master of Laws degree in Public Law from Australian National University in Canberra, Australia.[11] In 1986, he became the first Tuvaluan to qualify as a lawyer upon being admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand.[13]

Career

Teo was the first Tuvaluan to serve as the Attorney General of Tuvalu and Head of Legal and Judicial Services of Tuvalu from 1991 to 2000.[11][13] His predecessors were expatriates John Wilson, Neil Davidson, Beith Atkinson and David Ballantyne respectively (1978–1991).[14][15][16][17][18][19] During Teo's tenure, Cameron Dick served as the Acting Attorney General of Tuvalu from 1995 to 1996 while Teo undertook postgraduate studies at the Australian National University in Canberra.[20][21] Iakoba Italeli succeeded Teo as the Attorney General of Tuvalu in 2002.[22]

From 2000 to 2006, he was Director General of the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency (FFA), based in Honiara, Solomon Islands.[11] From 2007 to 2013 he served as Deputy Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), headquartered in Fiji.[23] During this period he was also acting Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum (2008), due to the illness and subsequent death of its Secretary General, Greg Urwin of Australia.[11][24]

In 2014, Teo was appointed interim secretary general for the newly established regional organisation, the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF), which he held until his appointment to the WCPFC. The other two nominees for secretary general were Wilkie Rasmussen, the foreign minister of the Cook Islands, and Tuiloma Neroni Slade, the former attorney general of Samoa and former justice of the International Criminal Court.[23] Ultimately, Slade was chosen as the next secretary general at the Pacific Islands Forum meeting in Niue,[25] while Teo was appointed to head the WCPFC Secretariat as executive director in December 2014.[26]

Teo was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to government.[27]

References

  1. ^ "Tuvalu general election: Six newcomers in parliament". Radio New Zealand. 29 January 2024. Archived from the original on 29 January 2024. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  2. ^ Marinaccio, Jess (30 January 2024). "Tuvalu's 2024 general election: a new political landscape". PolicyDevBlog. Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  3. ^ Needham, Kirsty (26 February 2024). "Taiwan ally Tuvalu names Feleti Teo as new prime minister". Reuters. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  4. ^ Agence France-Presse (26 February 2024). "Tuvalu names Feleti Teo prime minister after pro-Taiwan leader Kausea Natano ousted". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  5. ^ Australian Associated Press (26 February 2024). "Feleti Teo named as new Tuvalu prime minister". The National Indigenous Times. Archived from the original on 27 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  6. ^ Rod McGuirk and Tristan Lavalette (25 February 2024). "Feleti Teo is named Tuvalu's new prime minister after elections that ousted Taiwan supporter". The Washington Post. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  7. ^ "Feleti Teo elected new Tuvalu PM unopposed". Radio New Zealand. 26 February 2024. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  8. ^ Faa, Marian & Dziedzic, Stephen (26 February 2024). "Tuvalu's new prime minister to face decisions on key pact with Australia and recognition of Taiwan". ABC News. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ "Tuvalu Elects 12 Members of Parliament". East-West Center Center for Pacific Islands Studies/University of Hawai'i at Manoa/PACNEWS. 27 March 1998. Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  10. ^ a b Pareti, Samisoni (3 December 2014). "Tuvalu 'son' secures top WCPFC job". Island Business. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  11. ^ a b c d e "Tuvalu's Feleti Te'o Is Forum's New Deputy Secretary General". Pacific Magazine. 3 May 2008. Retrieved 14 September 2008.
  12. ^ Pareti, Samisoni (3 December 2014). "Tuvalu 'son' secures top WCPFC job". Island Business. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  13. ^ a b "Senior Regional Bureaucrat honoured by the Queen | THE JET | Fiji's First Community Newspaper". thejetnewspaper.com. Archived from the original on 2 March 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  14. ^ Jill and Fred Hunter (28 November 2006). "Obituary: Anita Wilson". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  15. ^ McIntyre, W. David (24 November 2016). Winding up the British Empire in the Pacific Islands. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780192513618. Archived from the original on 14 September 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  16. ^ Australia journal of political science. 1992. Archived from the original on 5 May 2022. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  17. ^ "Announcements (15 Commonwealth Law Bulletin 1989)". heinonline.org. 1989. Archived from the original on 28 November 2023. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  18. ^ Melanesian Law Journal. Papua and New Guinea University law Faculty. 1991. Archived from the original on 27 February 2024. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  19. ^ Whitaker, Joseph (1 December 1991). Whitaker's Almanac 1992 124. J. Whitaker. ISBN 9780850212204. Archived from the original on 27 February 2024. Retrieved 11 March 2018.
  20. ^ "Hon Cameron Dick". Queensland Parliament. Archived from the original on 5 March 2019. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  21. ^ "Queensland's new Attorney General practised law in Tuvalu | Pacific Beat". radioaustralia.net.au. Archived from the original on 3 March 2018. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  22. ^ "Tuvalu confident of Commonwealth nomination". pina.com.fj. 27 April 2022. Archived from the original on 26 February 2024. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
  23. ^ a b "Three in Running For Forum Secretary General". Pacific Magazine. 6 August 2008. Retrieved 14 September 2008.
  24. ^ "Executive Heads of The Secretariat". Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. 28 June 2017. Archived from the original on 7 November 2017. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
  25. ^ "Pacific Islands Forum chooses new Secretary General". Radio New Zealand International. 21 August 2008. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2008.
  26. ^ "WCPFC improves observer safety". Archived from the original on 27 February 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2017.
  27. ^ "No. 60538". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 2013. p. 1.
Political offices
Preceded by Prime Minister of Tuvalu
2024–present 		Incumbent
Preceded by
David Ballantyne
 Attorney-General of Tuvalu
1991–2000 		Succeeded by
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