PINA

By Pita Ligaiula in Da Nang, Vietnam The Executive director of the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) Feleti Teo says the Commission was severely challenged to adapt and to adjust to a new working environment dictated by the disruptive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on international travels and modes of transacting businesses. This week's WCPFC19 meeting is the first...

By Pita Ligaiula in Da Nang, Vietnam The Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission (WCPFC) executive director Feleti Teo has announced that he is stepping down from the position in March next year. Teo made the announcement at the opening of the Tuna Commission Meeting (WCPFC 19) in Dan Nang, Vietnam. “As I would take my discharge from the WCPFC early in...

Young leaders from the Pacific and Australia will come together for connection-building, leadership development and dialogue at the first ever Pacific Australian Emerging Leaders Summit starting on Saturday. The four-day summit, organised by Micah Australia and the Pacific Conference of Churches(PCC), gathers emerging leaders aged 22 to 35 to discuss key development priorities for young people and their communities. On Monday...

By Anita Roberts Vanuatu and its coalition partners for the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion (ICJAO) resolution are confident of reaching the required number of votes at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). This was conveyed by the Minister of Climate Change, Ralph Regenvanu, during a press conference at COP27 Climate Change Summit in Egypt. The ICJAO resolution is expected...

The U.S Department of Defence is beefing up forces in Guam and other island nations in the region to ensure a prompt counteraction should China launch an act of aggression, a military official said. “The geopolitical tensions we are experiencing are no secret – China is our most consequential challenger, and they are rapidly building up their own staging areas,...

By Lara BULLENS Although they contribute less than 0.03 percent of the world’s total carbon emissions, Pacific Islands are at the front line of the climate crisis. Entire countries could be submerged under water within the next two to three decades. How are these island states fighting for their survival? A country is more than its land. A country is...

Developing nations could have a greater say over global tax rules after winning a diplomatic tussle at the United Nations in New York on Wednesday. A new resolution, agreed by UN members, gives the body a mandate to kickstart intergovernmental talks on tax. The policy area has long been dominated by the Paris-headquartered Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a...

Fiji's National Federation Party Leader Professor Biman Prasad says he and Sitiveni Rabuka are the best alternative leaders. He claims jointly, they can fix Fiji’s economy and that with the skill sets they possess, they can improve the health system, reduce the living cost and implement other developments. While addressing party supporters in Rakiraki in Fiji’s Western division, Prasad has again...

By Denise Fisher After proclaiming that New Caledonians had voted to stay with France in three recent referendums, despite a massive boycott by indigenous parties of the last one, French President Emmanuel Macron’s government now faces hostility and resistance in France’s pre-eminent overseas territory. The pro- and anti-independence sides remain diametrically opposed, along ethnic lines. And, most worryingly, the long-term...

Malia Tuitupou, a volunteer working at one of the “Women Friendly Spaces” established and supported by the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPA) Pacific in Tonga, still vividly remembers the aftermath of the unprecedented natural disasters, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption that occurred in the late afternoon of 15 January 2022 along with the subsequent tsunami, which combinedly changed...