PACIFIC Games Council president Vidhya Lakhan is working on getting the regional games recognised as the premier event in Oceania.
Lakhan, who will go unopposed in the upcoming Council General Assembly in Wallis and Futuna, is keen to continue working on adding value to the Pacific Games.
After getting elected to the council in 2003, Lakhan said he had been working on numerous areas to ensure the performance of the regional athletes was recognised by the international federations.
He said his aim in the next four years would be to include Australia and New Zealand in the Pacific Games.
"Some of the things I started doing particularly in the last four years was trying to add value to the Pacific Games so that it is recognised as the games for the Oceania region," Lakhan, who is also the president of the Fiji Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee (FASANOC), said.
"To do that, I want the international federations to recognise the competition at the Pacific Games and recognise it as the qualifying event to their world events."
Lakhan said the international federations were a bit hesitant to recognise the Pacific Games as the qualifying event to their world events because of the non-participation of Australia and New Zealand in the regional games.
Australia and New Zealand fall under the Oceania region and do not participate at the four-yearly Pacific Games.
"We will be working on getting Australia and New Zealand into the Pacific Games and it will not happen overnight," Lakhan said.
"Also the intention of our existing members is to retain the culture of the Pacific Games as the games of the islanders."
Lakhan said with Australia and New Zealand being part of the Pacific Mini Games weightlifting competition next year, their campaign was on track.
However, Lakhan added these two nations would be ranked separately from the Pacific countries at the Mini Games in Wallis and Futuna.