Henry Naisali

Henry Faati Naisali (7 December 1928 – 20 October 2004) was a Tuvaluan politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Tuvalu (1985-1989), Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum (1988-1992) He joined the Gilbert and Ellice Islands civil service in 1952. In the 1977 elections Naisali defeated by only 14 votes Isakala Paeniu who had been a minister in the administration of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands colony.

Finance Minister of Tuvalu Tuvalu became fully independent within the Commonwealth on 1 October 1978. The first elections for the Parliament of Tuvalu were not held until 8 September 1981.

Naisali was elected to the Parliament of Tuvalu in the 1981 Tuvaluan general election and was appointed Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister. He was re-elected in the 1985 Tuvaluan general election and was re-appointed finance minister and deputy prime minister in the government of prime minister Tomasi Puapua. He was appointed as the director of South Pacific Bureau for Economic Cooperation (SPEC) in 1986. In 1987, he was instrumental in the formation of the Tuvalu Trust Fund, which involving the governments of the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand providing the capital for a sovereign wealth fund to support the budget of the government of Tuvalu.

He was re-elected in the 1989 Tuvaluan general election, however he was not re-elected in the 1993 elections.

Pacific Islands Forum Naisali was the Director of the South Pacific Bureau for Economic Co-operation (SPEC) from January 1986 to September 1988; he continued as Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) until January 1992, following the formation of the PIF as successor of the SPEC.

Honours Naisali was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1975 Birthday Honours, a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in the 1983 New Year Honours, and an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in February 1992, "for service to Australian/Pacific Island relations, particularly as Secretary General to the South Pacific Forum."