Pacific Islands News Association

Business News : Fiji accedes to the agreement on port state measures [14/02/2019 - Italy]
Sports News : Tahiti concerned about Pacific Games accommodation [14/02/2019 - Samoa]
News Feature : A rising China and the future of the “Blue Pacific” [14/02/2019 - Fiji]
Business News : $503.73 million in remittances top Samoa foreign exchange earner [14/02/2019 - Samoa]
Business News : Vanuatu export breakthrough to New Caledonia [14/02/2019 - Vanuatu]
Business News : PINA head cites importance of content sharing [14/02/2019 - New Zealand]
Business News : Pacific Islands government should consider seabed mining impacts [14/02/2019 - Fiji]
News : Beijing intensifies lobbying of Pacific nations to recognise Taiwan as part of One China [14/02/2019 - Fiji]
News : American Samoa, Guam, Samoa added to EU blacklist, Vanuatu removed [14/02/2019 - Luxembourg]
News : TSI: money the focus of elections, Police arrest a man in Honiara for alleged electoral offence [14/02/2019 - Solomon Islands]
News : Fiji Immigration will extend or renew expiring passports to another 10 years [14/02/2019 - Fiji]
News : Solomon Islands election chief appeals to citizen not to break the law [14/02/2019 - Solomon Islands]
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Country profile - Kiribati

Kiribati flag

The 33 atolls that make up Kiribati - the former Gilbert Islands - occupy a vast area in the Pacific. They stretch nearly 4,000 km from east to west, more than 2,000 km from north to south, and straddle the Equator.

The country won independence from the United Kingdom in 1979. Many of the atolls are inhabited; most of them are very low-lying and at risk from rising sea levels.

Kiribati used to lie either side of the International Date Line, but the government unilaterally moved the line eastwards in 1995 to ensure the day was the same in the whole country.

This was a shrewd move as Kiribati marketed itself as the first inhabited place on Earth to greet the new millennium on 1 January 2000. The world's media descended on Caroline Island, renamed Millennium Island, to record the event.

Kiribati's economy is weak and is affected by rises and falls in the world demand for coconut.

Fishing licences, foreign aid and money sent home by workers abroad also play their part, as does a trust fund set up with revenues from phosphate mining on the island of Banaba. The mines were depleted by 1980, precipitating the evacuation of much of the population.
Kiribati is home to the South Pacific's largest marine reserve.

Additional information