PINA

Opening career pathways and providing equal opportunities for women is the focus of a world-first initiative that sees an all-female deck crew set off on their first fishing trip on a tuna longline vessel, today. The collaboration between SeaQuest Fiji and the Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Agency seeks to begin addressing some of the issues creating the sizable gender imbalance...

What does it take to stay calm in the crossfire? Unaisi Vuniwaqa has witnessed terrible suffering. As the Assistant Secretary-General for Safety and Security, she has worked as a UN peacekeeper in some of the world’s most dangerous places. “Sometimes it can be very overwhelming, you really feel for the people and the suffering that they're going through.” Peacekeepers have one...

Fiji has told an Asian security summit that climate change is a bigger threat to the Pacific than military tensions. “In our blue Pacific continent, machine guns, fighter jets, grey ships and green battalions are not our primary security concern. “The single greatest threat to our very existence is climate change. It threatens our very hopes and dreams of prosperity. Human-induced,...

Australia’s prime minister said Friday after a meeting with his New Zealand counterpart that the two nations are in lockstep in their policies toward the Pacific islands, where China’s influence is growing. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern became the first foreign leader to visit Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Australia since he was elected on 21 May. Both lead...

Samoan Prime Minister, Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, is scheduled to meet her New Zealand counterpart, Jacinda Ardern, this week. After attending a special meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji last week, Mata'afa is returning to New Zealand ahead of the nation's first bilateral engagement since Fiame became the Prime Minister. The first official meeting between Mata'afa as Prime Minister and...

In the Kiribati capital Tarawa, internet and phone provider Oceanlink looks unremarkable. But look a little deeper, and the ownership is revealed as Beijing-based Acclinks. “All the PRC-based telcos have a hand-in-glove relationship with Chinese intelligence,” said Paul Buchanan, a security and geopolitical analyst. “In fact, they’re mandated to do so by the constitution of the Community Party.” Acclinks has close ties to...

A Tonga Cabinet Minister, Viliami Manuopangai Hingano, passed away Friday, at the Auckland City Hospital in New Zealand, the Prime Minister’s Office has announced. Hingano travelled to New Zealand on 30 December for medical treatment, only two days after he was appointed as Tonga’s Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, on 28 December 2021, in the new government. “It is with...

The chair of the fisheries subsidies negotiations, Ambassador Santiago Wills of Colombia, on 10 June submitted to WTO members a revised draft agreement for new global rules to curb harmful fishing subsidies. Released ahead of ministers’ arrival at the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12) in Geneva, the text for consideration reflects delegates’ collective efforts in recent intensive meetings and suggests landing...

Nurturing relationships is paramount to break down unequal power dynamics ­– especially in working for women rights. By ‘Ofa-ki-Levuka (‘Ofa) Guttenbeil-Likiliki From the 1990s to the early 2000s, Oceanic writer and poet ‘Epeli Hau’ofa wrote of challenging the way the world (and even people of Oceania) often viewed Oceania with belittlement, due to both its geographical location and its mostly...

Sydney Roosters back Kevin Naiqama will again captain Fiji Bati in the upcoming Pacific Test against Papua New Guinea, with Penrith Panthers strike forward Viliame Kikau to act as his deputy. The pair are among 15 NRL players in a 30-man squad named for the June 25 Test at Sydney's Campbelltown Stadium, which will headline a double-header also featuring Samoa...