THE 9th Premiers’ Conference will take place in Malaita province.

Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Provincial Government, Stanley D Pirione confirms this to the paper yesterday.

Mr Stanley Pirione said he has already met with the premier of Malaita Province, Hon Peter Ramohia, his three ministers and provincial secretary.

He said the date is yet to be fixed for this annual event, however a meeting will commence by early next month for his ministry to establish a working committee within the Ministry.

Mr Pirione adds that officials from the Ministry of Provincial government will also assist Malaita province in setting the local organising committee ahead of the event.

Meanwhile, he said the budget for this event is yet to be finalised and that his ministry is trying to allocate extra funds from its own budget while waiting for the supplementary budget to secure further funds for the event.

Mr Pirione said his ministry is optimistic that the government will allocate extra funds for the event from the government’s supplementary budget later this year.

The Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening is one among other government ministries that are affected by the huge budget cut last year.

This paper understands that the ministry has submitted a bid worth 12 million for the 2017 Premiers Conference and Provincial of two provinces but was turned down by cabinet.