PINA

The Pacific Feminist Fund, the first stand-alone regional fund for Pacific women’s rights organisations was launched Monday in Fiji, by feminist Pacific development geographer, Professor Yvonne Underhill-Sem. Professor Underhill-Sem said many attempts to direct and/or increase resources for women have been made in the past, like the solidarity banking in New Caledonia and financial services for women living in rural...

The ocean can provide vast opportunities for developing countries to build more innovative and resilient economies, but climate change, pollution and overfishing threaten the livelihoods of some three billion people who rely on it for food and income. That’s according to the UN Trade and Development body UNCTAD’s Trade and Environment Review 2023, published on Monday, which analyses the world’s...

The United States and Palau strengthened their ties and renewed their commitment to enhance security and defence responsibilities in the region during the biannual bilateral Joint Committee Meeting in Honolulu last week. “Palau is a key partner for the United States in our efforts to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” Rear Admiral Benjamin Nicholson, the U.S Indo-Pacific Command's...

Vanuatu’s Citizenship Commission has confirmed that corruption-accused fugitive Gupta brothers – Atul and Rajesh — are citizens of Vanuatu and there is inadequate evidence to cancel their Vanuatu citizenship certificates. Chairman of the Citizenship Commission, Robin Kapapa, relayed this via a statement over the weekend, in response to Vanuatu Daily Post’s front page article titled “South Africa’s Wanted Fugitives now...

China has accused Australia of trying to sabotage its relationship with Fiji as questions swirl over whether the Pacific Island country will cut security and law enforcement ties with Beijing. The relationship between Beijing and Suva has cooled ever since Sitiveni Rabuka won power late last year, particularly after the new prime minister reversed a decision forcing Taiwan to downgrade...

Australian High Commissioner to India Barry O'Farrell on Monday said that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is looking forward to the forthcoming Quad Summit to be held in Sydney on 23-24 May and that the Quad partners share a positive agenda for a secure, safe and sovereign Indo-Pacific that abides by the rules. “PM Albanese is looking forward to the Quad...

The Republic of China (Taiwan) says as a democratic country they respect Fiji’s sovereignty and support an open, democratic, and free social system. While responding to an earlier article “Fiji urged to uphold One-China principle” published by FBC News, the Trade Mission of the Republic of China says based on shared values, they remain committed to engaging in various cooperation...

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the first half of 2020, in New York, at the 74th UN General Assembly, extended an invitation to all the Pacific island leaders to attend the third Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit in Port Moresby. Modi reiterated that India’s relationship with the Pacific island nations deepened with the establishment of the FIPIC. The...

By Nic Maclellan The closure of New Caledonia’s only daily newspaper Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes highlights the commercial and political challenges facing media across the Pacific. The death of a newspaper strikes hard — and not only when you’re one of its employees. “Les Nouvelles Calédoniennes was an institution in New Caledonia,” Thierry Kremer, secretary of the paper’s works council, tells me....

Fiji's Attorney General and Minister for Justice, Siromi Turaga has appointed five interim Trustees for the Fiji Rugby Football Union Trust Board (FRFUTB). Former Fiji National Sports Commission Chief Executive Peter Mazey, Jenny Seeto, Alipate Naiorosui, Sikeli Tuinamuana and Mosese Naivalu have been appointed pursuant to powers in Section 13B of the Charitable Trusts Act 1945. “All appointments are until the...