PINA

Saudi Arabia has announced US$50 million to kick start the Pacific Resilience Facility This was confirmed Friday by Forum Chair and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown after their meeting with Forum Dialogue partners one the sidelines of the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Cook Islands. "The announcement by Saudi Arabia for US$50 million to start seeding the Pacific...

By Nic Maclellan in Rarotonga, Cook Islands Meeting in Cook Islands, Pacific Islands Forum leaders confirmed former President of Nauru Baron Waqa as the next Secretary General of the Forum Secretariat, taking over from Henry Puna in 2024. A major focus of the annual summit, hosted by Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, was the endorsement of a detailed implementation...

The Fifty-Second (52nd) Pacific Islands Forum was held in Rarotonga, Cook Islands from 6 – 10 November 2023, and was attended by the Heads of State, Government, and Territories of Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, Samoa, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Tonga, and Tuvalu. New...

Pacific Island Forum Leaders have reaffirmed the decision taken under the Suva Agreement with the appointment of former president of Nauru Baron Waqa as the next Secretary General. This was announced by Forum Chairman and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown at the end of the Leaders Retreat in Aitutaki. Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka defended Waqa’s appointment, in an effort...

Australia has offered refuge to citizens of Tuvalu because of the catastrophic impacts of climate change, in a landmark new pact. Tuvalu - a series of low-lying atolls in the Pacific - is among the nations most at risk from rising seas. It is home to 11,200 people and has repeatedly called for greater action to combat climate change. Australian Prime Minister...

Fiji’s Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has expressed disappointment at Nauru’s President David Adeang failure to attend the Leaders retreat in Aitutaki today. Adeang walked out of the Forum Leaders Plenary Wednesday when the nomination of Baron Waqa as the next Secretary General was on the agenda for the Leaders deliberation. In an interview with journalists in Aitutaki on their way to...

The validity of the Suva Agreement has been thrown into question after Nauru's President David Adeang walked out of the Forum Leaders plenary in Cook Islands capital, Rarotonga Wednesday when incoming Secretary General's Baron Waqa nomination was put on the agenda for the Leaders discussion. The Suva Agreement is part of a pact to restore Pacific unity after it was...

Forum Secretary General Henry Puna has called on Pacific leaders to use their retreat today in Aitutaki to have honest and frank conversations on the range of issues facing the region today. The leaders will discuss climate change, gender, fisheries, nuclear issues, and trade among others. Leaders also expected to have a talanoa on the controversial issue of appointing the next...

Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has played down suggestion there is a rift among Leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum after reports that Nauru President David Adeang stormed out at the plenary Wednesday when Micronesia's nomination for Secretary General Baron Waqa was on the agenda. The 63-year-old was nominated by Micronesian nations to be the next secretary general from 2024...

Nauru's President David Adeang and his delegation walked out of the Pacific Islands Forum plenary meeting Wednesday as questions are raised about the appointment of former President Baron Waqa to take over in 2024 as the next Secretary General. Diplomatic sources told PACNEWS, Forum Chairman and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown had ask Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka's intervention...