PINA

Pacific island leaders arrived in Fiji on Thursday for a two-day meeting to formalise the return of Kiribati to the 18-member regional bloc, amid tensions between China and the United States in the strategically located region. The meeting will also discuss Japan's plan to release treated water from the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea, which some Pacific islands...

Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni is in Fiji to represent New Zealand at a “politically important for New Zealand, but personally quite important” event. It is Sepuloni’s first overseas visit as deputy prime minister, and she is the first deputy prime minister of Pacific Island descent to attend the Pacific Island Forum Special Leaders’ Retreat. “Being part of the Pacific diaspora...

Fiji's Minister for Home Affairs, Pio Tikoduadua, has called on politicians not to stick their noses into the affairs of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces. The Minister took this stance while speaking at the RFMF Black Rock Camp in Nadi Thursday. Tikoduadua said it is against the normal democratic practice to interfere in the affairs of the RFMF as it...

By Vince Chadwick It took one sentence in the wee hours of Friday morning for Emmanuel Macron to put more than seven years of work by the European Commission and others in mortal jeopardy. Asked at a press conference whether it was time to ditch the fledgling, ailing, and still-unsigned Post-Cotonou Agreement between the European Union and the 79-member Organisation...

Fiji's Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sitiveni Rabuka met with his Cook Islands counterpart, Mark Brown, at the margins of the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Special Retreat held this week in Nadi. The two leaders during their first meeting, discussed key areas of cooperation to further advance Fiji and Cook Island's bilateral relations. During the meeting, Prime Minister Rabuka...

Pacific reunification should be sealed in Fiji when Kiribati is welcomed back into the fold after a Micronesian splinter. In recent years, the blue continent has seen strategic jostling between China and the United States for influence and diplomatic wrangling among Pacific players. Regional leaders hope to patch up differences in Nadi at a Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) retreat on Friday...

As head of the Commonwealth, His Majesty King Charles III has been confirmed to attend the 26th Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) to be hosted by Samoa in 2024. This is the first meeting under the leadership of the new Head of the Commonwealth family. CHOGM consists of 56 member countries from across Africa, Asia, Carribean and the Pacific and...

-Foreign Minister Penny Wong has declared Australia shares the vision held by Fiji for a stronger relationship between the two nations. Speaking in Fiji, Senator Wong announced $10 million (US$6.8 million) in additional funding to help rebuild schools and critical infrastructure that were destroyed by a tropical cyclone two years ago. She said the buildings would be built to meet a...

Pacific island nations are free to form relationships with whichever countries they chose, New Zealand's new deputy prime minister said, but those decisions impact the regional “family”, so broad and constant engagement is needed. The United States, Australia and New Zealand have stepped up diplomacy and aid to the strategically important Pacific region, worried about China’s growing influence in the...

Australia has taken a significant step in countering China's growing influence in the Pacific by signing an important agreement with Kiribati. Australia will scale up security and economic co-operation with the small island nation after Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong signed a “nurturing the partnership” Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with President Taneti Maamau. it comes after Beijing has pushed in recent...