PINA

Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has announced the South Pacific Connect Initiative a significant milestone in reducing the digital divide and enhancing the capacity, resilience and reliability of digital connectivity across the Pacific. The initiative will establish a new subsea cable to link the United States, Fiji, Australia, and French Polynesia. The South Pacific Connect initiative is a collaborative effort with...

United States President Biden Joe Biden welcomes Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on 25 October 2023 for an official visit in Washington D.C this week. The two leaders reaffirmed the strength of the U.S-Australia alliance and the evolution of its reach beyond defence and security into a force for increased prosperity and innovation across the Indo-Pacific region and around the...

New Zealand's high commissioner to Vanuatu says she is hopeful some of the country's more recently built permanent infrastructure will have weathered Tropical Cyclone Lola. Homes, roads, schools, and bridges were wiped out by the cyclone in parts of Vanuatu, with early reports showing Pentecost Island was hardest hit. Initial assessments by the country's National Disaster Management Office found more than...

The World Trade Organisation (WTO0 has announced it will be co-hosting the Trade House pavilion at the United Nations COP28 climate summit with three other international organisations — the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) — as a pioneering initiative that highlights trade’s pivotal role...

The tiny Pacific nation of Nauru is expected to elect a new President today (Friday) after a vote of no confidence Wednesday to removed President Russ Kun. The country’s parliament met on Thursday and nominated two presidential candidates. Nominations for Rennier Gadabu from the Constituency of Aiwo and David Adeang from the Constituency of Ubenide were voted on, and tied at...

Thousands of people have been greatly affected by the recent Category 5 Cyclone Lola in Vanuatu. Making landfall on 26 October 2023, the cyclone has left a path of destruction with damage to houses, schools, infrastructure, plantations, and roads – making some of the most affected communities currently inaccessible to outside assistance. The devastation left by the cyclone is immense, especially...

Vanuatu, one of the nations most at threat from natural disasters in the world, is walking the path of resilience once again after experiencing three cyclones in eight months. More than 10,000 households have been affected by Cyclone Lola, some destroyed along with schools. Four provinces in the northeast - Malampa, Senma, Penama and Torba - were hit hardest, humanitarian aid...

105 participants representing seventeen Pacific Islands convened the thirteenth Pacific Islands Climate Outlook Forum (PICOF-13), which was centred on the theme of ‘Improving food security in the Pacific with customised climate services.’ The PICOF-13 enabled the region’s National Meteorological and Hydrometeorological Services (NMHSs) to present and discuss monthly and the 2023/2024 seasonal climate, as well as present the ocean and...

By Dr Satyendra Prasad, Senior Fellow – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace  Seabed mining needs to be discussed at the Pacific Islands Forum Meeting in Rarotonga. Because the ocean is such a large part of the Pacific’s economic and social fabric, this cannot be left to the International Seabed Authority (ISA) and the UN alone. The risks are far too...

By Jenny Lei Ravelo  After 72 years, the World Health Organisation’s regional office in the Western Pacific will for the first time be led by a Pacific islander, Dr Saia Ma’u Piukala, Tonga’s health minister. Piukala emerged as the top candidate in all voting rounds during last week’s 74th session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Western Pacific but was...