PINA

Commemorating over a decade of achievements made, the staff of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) had a special virtual farewell event for the SPREP Director-General Kosi Latu today. Latu began with SPREP as the Deputy Director-General in 2008, then became the Director-General in 2016. His term as the SPREP Director-General comes to an end on 01...

The digitalFIJI strategy aims to develop a $1bn (US$500 million) digital economy in Fiji by 2030 - matching the size of the country's tourism industry. In this exclusive interview, Satyendra Prasad, Permanent Representative of Fiji to the United Nations, highlights why digital is not optional for SIDS. In what ways can digital catalyse the last two years of the SAMOA Pathway?...

“Arboviruses” might not be something most of us are familiar with, but for almost four billion people, they’re a deadly threat – which is why the UN health agency on Thursday, launched a plan to prevent them from causing a new pandemic. The most common arboviruses are in fact some of the world’s most dangerous mosquito-borne illnesses, such as Dengue,...

A smaller eruption in Tonga’s Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai (HTHH) volcano may have primed it for the massive explosion that happened in January this year, revealed a new study. The smaller eruption may have sunk the volcano’s main vent under the surface of the ocean, priming it for the massive explosion a day later, triggering a tsunami and sending plumes of...

The Solomon Islands on Thursday said it had inked a wide-ranging security pact with Beijing, an agreement Western allies fear will pave the way for the first Chinese military foothold in the South Pacific. “Officials of Solomon Islands and the People's Republic of China have initialled elements of a bilateral Security Cooperation Framework between the two countries today," said a...

One of the ADF's most senior officers has warned that if China manages to station warships in Solomon Islands it would “change the calculus” for Australia's military, forcing a change to Defence operations. Concern is growing that Honiara and Beijing will soon sign a new security pact allowing Chinese personnel and equipment to be stationed in the Pacific nation, which...

Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape and Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo discussed ways to further deepen the bilateral trade ties during the former’s visit to Indonesia on Thursday. Both countries set their sights on increasing the current bilateral trade volume, which managed to book a strong growth despite the pandemic. According to Jokowi, Indonesia-Papua New Guinea (PNG) trade...

UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Thursday urged private investors businesses, cities, states and regions, to do more to cut harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Guterres’s comments came as he unveiled a plan to develop stronger standards for “net-zero” pledges by partners below the national government level, in the fight against climate change. “Despite growing pledges of climate action, global emissions are at...

ANZ has announced it would strengthen its focus on building a world-class digital bank in its core Pacific markets (excluding PNG) of Fiji, Samoa, Vanuatu, Cook Islands, Tonga, Solomon Islands and Kiribati, as well as Timor-Leste, following a decision to exit U.S community banking in American Samoa and Guam. ANZ Regional Executive Pacific, Tessa Price, said: “In our core Pacific...

The danger is geopolitical competition being appropriated by local actors on both sides of local political tensions. By Tarcisius Kabutaulaka News of an impending security agreement between Solomon Islands and China has alarmed Western nations concerned about China’s assertive influence in the region. But the reaction has underscored the risk that geopolitical competition itself could undermine the sovereignty of Pacific...