PINA

Opinion by Ben Bohane China’s offering of a comprehensive security and economic pact to 10 Pacific nations shows it is confidently moving from a bilateral to a multilateral approach to the Pacific, and one that increasingly links trade with security. It is also an attempt to supplant the existing regional architecture of organisations like the Pacific Islands Forum. As competing...

A blockbuster schedule for the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2023 has been announced today with a full roster of teams and hosts as the dynamic, high octane Olympic sport continues to grow, evolve and engage new fans around the globe. The competition will be intense from start to finish with the prize of Olympic Games Paris 2024 qualification on...

The Sydney Sevens is set to make its long-awaited return as World Rugby announces the Sevens Series for the 2022-23 calendar. It is slated to be held on 27-29 January as part of the expanded series, the first time it will be played in Australia since 2020. Australia will enter as the defending women's World Series champions, whilst the men currently...

The Pacific island state of Niue has announced that it will protect 100 percent of the ocean in its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), which spans 317,500 sq km (122,000 sq miles), roughly the area of Vietnam. The water that surrounds one of the world’s largest raised coral atolls is the only place where the katuali is found – a sea...

Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) President Ishmael Toroama says this general election will be the final election that Bougainville will take part in. He said Bougainville was preparing for the final political settlement (not before 2025 and no later than 2027) in its quest for political independence. “This election is very crucial to the future of Bougainville and who we elect as...

By Dionisia Tabureguci Marked increases in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters in the Pacific region are forcing a rethink of ways to build better resilience into telecommunications infrastructure in the region, said Henry Puna, Secretary General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat in Suva. Puna was keynote speaker at the 26th Annual General Meeting’s Business Forum and Expo...

China has shelved its plan to sign a regional agreement with Pacific island nations. Foreign Minister Wang Yi has been travelling to Pacific nations and had planned to visit 10 countries in the two-week blitz. Wang says China will instead release a position paper following a meeting with Pacific foreign ministers in Fiji on Monday. “After meeting, China will release its own...

A meeting was convened Monday between Fijian Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama and Chinese’s State Councillor and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Wang Yi. In his remarks at the joint media conference that followed after the meeting, Prime Minister Bainimarama welcomed Minister Wang Yi to Fiji. “Much has changed since 2018 when Minister Wang Yi last visited us. A pandemic has completely upended...

Geopolitical point scoring means nothing to a nation whose communities are slipping beneath rising seas, whose jobs have been lost to a pandemic and whose families are impacted by the rapid rise in food prices. This was the point made by Voreqe Bainimarama in a joint statement Monday with Chinese State Councilor and Minister for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi. Bainimarama has...

Samoa’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Fiamē Naomi Mata’afa has criticised the manner in which regional issues had been dealt with recently where new power groupings only asked Pacific Islands like Samoa when issues heat up like the agreement between the China and the Solomon Island Government. Asked about what was signed with China’s Foreign Minister last weekend,...