Schoolchildren will line the route from Vanuatu's parliament to the airport today to farewell the country's late president Baldwin Lonsdale.
Thousands of people have been paying their respects to Father Lonsdale who died after a suspected heart attack at the weekend.
RNZI reports Father Lonsdale's body has been moved from State House early this morning for the funeral at parliament buildings in the capital Port Vila.
The governors-general of New Zealand and Australia, Fiji's president and representatives from the US, Britain, Indonesia and New Caledonia are among foreign dignitaries attending the service.
The day has been declared a public holiday and shops will close as the cortege makes its way to the airport where the Vanuatu mobile force will fire a salute.
Two government ministers will be among those accompanying Father Lonsdale's coffin on the flight to his home island of Motalava where a traditional ceremony will take place.
After a brief stop it will continue on to Vanualava island, the president's final resting place.
