PINA

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare will visit China next week, highlighting the accelerating contest between Beijing and Washington for influence in the South Pacific. Sogavare will visit from Sunday to Saturday, meeting top officials in Beijing and traveling to Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces, among China’s most developed, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing Thursday. His visit...

A campaign by climate-vulnerable Pacific islands to raise governments’ ambition on emissions-cutting for the global shipping industry looks set to fail at talks in London. With just over a day of negotiations left at the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO), the latest draft strategy does not significantly improve on targets that were branded “not ambitious enough” and “devastating” when they were...

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo will visit the far-eastern province of Papua this week after flagging his government is working to secure the release of a New Zealand pilot detained for five months. Philip Mark Mehrtens — a pilot for a charter plane company — was ambushed by rebels after he flew to a remote airstrip to drop off some passengers...

With the French Air and Space Force conducting Operation Pegase 23 in the Pacific region, France is showcasing its ability to project power over long distances to defend its interests. On 25 June 2023, a detachment of around 20 aircraft departed from Istres Air Base in southeastern France. After a one-day stopover at the Al Dhafra Air Base in the...

The PIF Geneva Office Permanent Representative Ambassador Mere Falemaka has this week completed the formalities of presenting her credentials as the Permanent Representative and Ambassador of the Pacific Islands Forum to the World Trade Organisation and the United Nations in Geneva. Ambassador Falemaka is no stranger to the Geneva environment. Reappointed in May 2023 to the role she previously held for...

Civil society groups from across the Pacific, including Fiji, have sent a letter to Trade Ministers calling for the release of agreements and key documents from the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). The letter comes after the May meeting of Trade Ministers had "substantially concluded" the Supply Chain Agreement, one of the four pillars of the IPEF agreement. “We are calling on...

COMMENTARY: A special correspondent in Port Moresby As an officer of the Department of Foreign Affairs in the Papua New Guinea government, I have to write anonymously to secure my safety. I am writing to reveal interference by the United States in PNG’s internal affairs which is undermining the bilateral relationship between Australia and PNG. As China’s influence rises in the...

Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has revealed to the Flying Fijians that they’ll have a bonus based on their performance at the Rugby World Cup in France. However, Rabuka said the funds will not be provided by the government. Rabuka visited the team at their camp in Welagi village, Taveuni Thursday and says they should play their hearts out and forget...

Oceania Football Confederation has partnered with It's a Penalty to launch the #KeepKidsSafe campaign in the lead-up to the FIFA Women's World Cup. The campaign is a step toward OFC's Pacific Legacy Programme that creates equal opportunity for girls and women in the region on and off the pitch. It is reported that 2 out of 3 women in the Pacific...

Olympic gold medalist and 7s World Cup winner Iosefo Masi says he does not want to do anything fancy in his pursuit to don the Flying Fijians jumper at the Rugby World Cup in France. The 25-year-old Taveuni native who was the Fijian Drua’s top try-scorer (9 tries) in his maiden Super Rugby Pacific season said being himself would be...