PINA

Fijian lawyer Richard Naidu has been found guilty of contempt of court. Naidu is convicted of scandalising and ridiculing the courts and the judiciary in a Facebook post where he made comments in relation to a judgment delivered by the High Court in Suva. Tuesday’s decision by Judge Justice Jude Nanayakkara was handed down to Naidu, in a packed civil high...

A Pasifika village will soon provide services to thousands of Pasifika in Waikato including a learning centre, a Fale style convention hall, and a wellbeing hub. Thousands of Pacific people in Waikato will soon have access to a $12.3 million (US$7.5 million) purpose-built village in the heart of Hamilton. Te Kute village will provide a Pasifika-focused holistic, wrap around services including...

China's economic transformation from a major manufacturing power to an active leader in digital innovation with rapid growth in artificial intelligence and e-commerce has impressed Mona Mato, trade commissioner of Pacific Trade Invest China. Mato, whose organisation promotes trade and investment opportunities between Pacific Island countries and China, said he has also noticed a significant change in Chinese consumers' attitudes,...

Senior Customs and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) officers in the region recognise the difficult tasks they have, to counter the rise of trade in counterfeits, which is increasingly flooding the Pacific and posing a real and grave threat to the health and safety of our people. Last week in Lautoka, Fiji, the officers met to discuss ways, including the updating...

How did Pacific Islands get ready for international border re-openings and ensure their aviation compliance? The Pacific Aviation Safety Office (PASO) explores this strategic issue in our latest case study with a focus on the Cook Islands' aviation recovery experience in 2021.  When the COVID-19 pandemic appeared in March 2020, many Pacific governments suddenly enacted proactive 'state of emergencies'...

There’s a reason why Moana Pasifika delayed their Super Rugby squad release almost a month after New Zealand’s five other franchises did. The team is staying true to it’s roots, finding and securing the best players straight from the Pacific Islands rather than filling their roster with New Zealand based players. “We don’t name a team of players we announce our...

Tuvalu's Minister of Finance Seve Paeniu has praised the decision by the UN climate summit in Egypt, known as COP27, to formally recognise loss and damage from climate change. The move opens the way for more financial and technical support for the vulnerable nations hardest hit by the climate crisis and has been resisted in negotiation processes of the COP...

Pacific leaders and climate activists are celebrating the establishment of a loss and damage financing mechanism in the COP27 agreement, three decades after they raised the need for such a provision. A loss and damage fund, which would provide financial assistance to poor nations stricken by climate disaster, has been a key ask of Pacific nations – which are among...

Following the closing of COP27 Sunday, the Least Developed Countries Group(LDC) Group representing 46 countries most vulnerable to climate change while contributing the least, reflected on the outcomes. “This is the first time in many years that our nations do not come out of a COP empty-handed. COP27 has delivered a historic decision in establishing a fund to address loss...

Blog by Labanya Prakash Jena, Commonwealth Regional Climate Finance Adviser, Indo-Pacific region The Pacific Island Countries (PICs) – 14 small island developing nations in the Pacific Ocean - comprise one of the most exposed and vulnerable regions to climate change and natural calamities. The region did not cause this climate crisis; the crisis is stemmed from heavy carbon emissions by...