PINA

After keeping Covid at the borders for two years, Niue has announced its plans to ease MIQ protocols for travellers. From 11 July, travellers will be allowed to visit without having to enter quarantine or self-isolate. This is step three of a five-stage reopening plan announced by the Niuean government last Friday. Step one will allow travellers to visit from 18 April....

Papua New Guinea Police Commissioner David Manning, and head of the COVID-19 National Control Centre, has placed United Nations agencies on notice that they must reveal how they have spent COVID-19 emergency funding over the past two years. Manning said the Prime Minister and other Members of Parliament, and independent organisations such as Transparency International, have all called for the...

By Dionisia Tabureguci Recent green lighting of cryptocurrency projects in Vanuatu and Palau have raised concerns over the lack of an advisory body in the Pacific to help inform governments who wish to explore the economic benefits and risks of cryptocurrencies, blockchain and digital assets in general. Last month, a letter from Vanuatu Prime Minister Bob Loughman to Satoshi Island...

The Our Ocean Conference opens in Palau this week and more than 500 delegates from 80 countries are expected to attend. The Republic of Palau and the United States are co-hosting the conference, which is seen as a key event for countries, civil society, and industry to commit to concrete and significant actions to protect the ocean. This is the seventh...

Global leaders need to realise the harmful impact their lack of climate action is having on the Pacific region, New Zealand's Minister for Pacific Peoples and Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs Aupito William Sio says. Aupito is attending the Ocean Conference in Palau this week and says he hopes to demonstrate Pacific leadership on ocean conservation. The two-day conference, which is...

Princess Anne has landed in Papua New Guinea as she continues her southern hemisphere tour to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. The Princess Royal and her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, landed in Port Moresby on Monday and were greeted on the tarmac of Jacksons International Airport by Prime Minister James Marape. Princess Anne was presented with a garland of...

The Australian Government and the Government of the Republic of Vanuatu have reached an important milestone, signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the long-term operation of the Pacific Fusion Centre in Port Vila. The Fusion Centre commenced from its Port Vila location in December 2021. Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women, Senator Marise Payne, said the Pacific Fusion...

Fiji’s debt is forecasted to surge to 88.6 percent of GDP in the 2022 financial year before subsiding to 85.3 percent in FY2023. This was according to the Asian Development Outlook 2022 by the Asian Development Bank which stated the government had budgeted a higher fiscal deficit equal to 14.2 percent of GDP in FY2022 and a deficit only a...

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Vanuatu on 08 April signed grant agreements totaling US$2.9 million to improve resilience in the Greater Port Vila area through capacity building, institutional strengthening, and the construction of two multipurpose emergency shelters. Vanuatu’s Minister of Finance and Economic Management Johnny Koanapo and ADB Director General for the Pacific Leah Gutierrez signed...

By Michael Shoebridge Why shouldn’t we believe Beijing’s claims that its security agreement with Honiara won’t result in a base or place to operate its navy from in Solomon Islands? Because we’ve seen this playbook before: in Djibouti on the Horn of Africa. And because the Chinese government and military routinely lie about their intentions. Xi Jinping telling Barack...