PINA

Solomon Islands Opposition Leader Matthew Wale has lashed out at the Prime Minister’s decision to remove the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC) as a State Owned Enterprise (SOE). In a statement, Wale said this is yet again another scheme orchestrated by the Prime Minister to curtail activities of SIBC as the voice of the nation and people of Solomon Islands. The...

A revival in tourism is expected to boost economic growth in the Pacific in 2022 and 2023, but the COVID-19 pandemic, rising commodity prices, and climate change continue to pose risks, according to the Asian Development Bank. After an average economic contraction of 0.6 percent in 2021, ADB’s Pacific Economic Monitor (PEM), released today, says the Pacific is expected to...

Coalition talks have begun in earnest, with the governing Cook Islands Party (CIP) confident they have the edge in the race. Meanwhile, the final count with special and postal votes that should shine light on the tied Ngatangiia seat will happen sometime next week. says chief electoral officer Taggy Tangimetua. The count could find a winner for the constituency that has...

The Solomon Islands’ government has prompted outrage by ordering the censorship of the national broadcaster, forbidding it from publishing material critical of the government, which will vet all stories before broadcast. On Monday the government announced that the Solomon Islands Broadcasting Corporation (SIBC), a public service broadcaster established in 1976 by an act of parliament, would be brought under government...

Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has met with the United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres where they discussed the need for greater urgency by the world’s leaders in tackling climate change, and accelerating COVID- 19 recovery efforts amongst other important global issues. At the meeting, Prime Minister Bainimarama thanked Secretary-General Guterres for his efforts to broker the export of wheat and...

Former Papua New Guinea Prime Minister and re-elected Ialibu Pangia MP Peter O’Neill has called out for any leaders who genuinely want to lead the country to put their hands up because he is willing to give his 100 percent support to them. O’Neill said in a statement that the country at this time need a Papua New Guinean who...

Peace is in our DNA as Pacific people. Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama made this comment as he reassured the Pacific Vuvale of his duty, as Chair of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), to urge the international system to make irreversible progress in eliminating nuclear weapons. The Prime Minister, while hosting the Pacific Community at the UN on the margins of the...

The effects of climate change is causing Pacific Islands, including Fiji to experience what is termed “catastrophic debt”. Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Director Programmes & Initiatives, Zarak Khan said this is where countries are now engaged in a cycle of debt, where they have to borrow more to mitigate the impacts of climate change and pandemic on their economies. “So if...

By Nick Bainton, Emilka Skrzypek Plundering the Pacific for its rich natural resources has a long pedigree. Think of the European companies strip-mining Nauru for its phosphate and leaving behind a moonscape. There are worrying signs history may be about to repeat, as global demand soars for minerals critical to the clean energy transition. This demand is creating pressure to...

At the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, Eileen Cikamatana won weightlifting gold for Fiji. Four years later in Birmingham she repeated the achievement, this time for Australia. Cikamatana represented her adopted country with a bang in Birmingham, setting new Commonwealth Games records in the women’s 87kg on Wednesday and becoming the first woman to win gold medals for two different nations. The...