The ULMWP lobbied MSG member groups Fiji, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands for full membership to the regional Bloc, presenting over 55,000 signatures from supporters within West Papua.
Several of those who distributed the petition inside West Papua were arrested and not one person who signed the petition from within West Papua was in attendance at the summit.
The MSG denied the ULMWP full membership, but gave them observer status, an historic and symbolic step toward being recognised as independent people of West Papua.“Despite not getting full membership we welcome the decision of the leaders as it our first step to full political recognition,” ULMWP Secretary General Octovianus Mote said.
"Whilst this is the first step for West Papua, we will be working towards full membership into the MSG family. But our struggle for political recognition will not stop here, we will take it to the regional and international level as we are a nation in waiting”.