PINA

--The Australian Foreign Affairs minister, Penny Wong, has drawn a contrast with China’s approach to the Pacific by promising that a new security deal she signed with Vanuatu on Tuesday would be released publicly. Wong, who is leading a bipartisan Australian delegation to the region, also left the door open to pursuing similar deals with other Pacific countries amid growing...

As negotiations between 196 parties continue with the goal of reaching an ambitious post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework to halt biodiversity loss, the Kingdom of Tonga has urged the parties to demonstrate a spirit of compromise beyond national and institutional interests, and to prioritise people and the planet. Tonga’s Director of Environment, with the Ministry of Meteorology, Energy, Information, Disaster Management,...

The Commonwealth Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, addressed leaders from 79 countries in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, as well as strategic partners, highlighting the importance of solidarity among nations in the face of multiple global challenges. During a high level dialogue with strategic partners at the 10th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African, Caribbean...

By Pita Ligaiula in Luanda, Angola The head of the member Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) Georges Rebelo Chikoti has called on the European Union (EU) to sign the post-Cotonou deal with member states as the credibility of cooperation now hangs in the balance. Chikoti made the plea after the 79-member OACPS concluded its 10th Head of...

By Pita Ligaiula in Luanda, Angola Samoa’s hosting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2024 is an opportunity for the island nation to showcase to the world the effect of climate change facing the Pacific. CHOGM will bring together delegations from 56 nations from across Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. In an interview with PACNEWS in Luanda,...

By Pita Ligaiula in Luanda, Angola Commonwealth Secretary General Patricia Scotland has offered her best wishes to the people of Fiji as they go to the polls on Wednesday this week to elect the new government. 693, 915 Fijians are registered to cast their vote in the one-day vote. In an interview with PACNEWS in Angola’s capital Luanda, after the 10th Summit...

Fiji goes on a 48-hour blackout period at midnight tonight before its General Election on Wednesday, 14 December. The blackout period means there will no longer be any political campaigns, advertisements, political rallies, banners, posters, billboards, or media reports until 6pm Wednesday. There are nine political parties contesting the election and 693,915 people registered to vote in 2054 stations. At least 36,085...

By Pita Ligaiula in Luanda, Angola The 10th Summit of Heads of States and Government of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS)has endorsed the Luanda declaration and supported Vanuatu’s draft resolution seeking climate justice at UN court. This was confirmed by OACPS Secretary, General Georges Rebelo Chikoti in an interview with Journalists from Caribbean and Pacific. “Well, I think...

By Pita Ligaiula, in Luanda, Angola. The Secretary General of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), Georges Rebelo Chikoti has called on 79 leaders of the bloc to act jointly to raise issues of concern to member states. Speaking at the opening of the 10th Summit for the Head of States and Government in Luanda Friday, Chikoti said...

By Pita Ligaiula in Luanda, Angola Samoan Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa has stressed the importance of 79 member states of OACPS in finalising the signing of the Samoa Agreement. The pact was initialled in April 2021 but remains unratified, 20 months after negotiations concluded between the European Union and African, Caribbean and Pacific(ACP) States. The special relation that the  Organisation of...