PINA

Kiribati will start opening its borders in January 2022. The announcement was made by Kiribati President Taneti Maamau when addressing the nation on Radio Kiribati. “Your government has decided that beginning next year, January 2022, Kiribati will open its borders resume travel,”, President Maamau announced. President Maamau urges the people of Kiribati who haven’t received their Covid-19 jabs to start getting theirs...

Further support for Fiji’s COVID-19 response has been announced by New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta today. The package builds on previous tranches of assistance Aotearoa New Zealand has provided to Fiji. “Fiji remains in a very challenging position in their response to COVID-19 and our continued thoughts are with the Fijian people at this time,” Nanaia Mahuta said. “New Zealand is...

Three key documents were endorsed by SPREP Member countries and territories during the second day of the 30th Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme Meeting of Officials. The documents were presented to the Members and observers by SPREP technical experts who had worked in collaboration with Member countries and partners to develop and approve the final versions of the...

By Dr Ian Fry As wildfires take lives and ravage property around the Mediterranean and North America and floods destroy lives and property in other parts of Europe, China and Nepal, Pacific Island countries are bracing themselves for another severe cyclone season. These are no longer simply natural disasters, they are climate change events. This is the new normal and...

France has declared a health emergency in New Caledonia after Covid-19 was detected in the community. The state of emergency was decreed by the French prime minister Jean Castex, effective immediately. The decree, which is valid for a month, allows the authorities to impose restrictions, such as curfews or a lockdown, which the New Caledonian authorities had already imposed on Tuesday. Today,...

The small Pacific Island nation of Tuvalu, has been experiencing low rainfall conditions, with mounting concerns of extreme water shortages for people across the tropical islands. Tuvalu has been facing drought conditions for the past three months and rainfall levels have been some of the lowest ever recorded. There are fears communities may face water shortages in the coming months if...

Fiji has recorded 240 new cases of COVID-19 and three new deaths Wednesday, increasing the total number of cases in the island nation to 48,323 and 526 deaths since the outbreak in April. Permanent secretary for Health, Dr James Fong said 49 cases are from the Western division, 32 cases are from the Central division in Vitilevu, Fiji's main island...

The Solomon Islands and Vanuatu have upped the pressure on Australia, urging it to follow through on its promise to allow commercial kava imports. That issue, along with how Australia could better support the Pacific's agriculture industries more broadly, and also labour Mobility - were the top issues discussed by some of the region's leading diplomats. High Commissioners from Samoa, Solomon...

It was a rare moment given the upheaval and controversy the Pacific Islands Forum has faced in the last year or so. Palau President Surangel Whipps Jnr and his fellow MPS leader, President David Kabua of the Marshall Islands, were on the same page this week with Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Henry Puna. Despite some earlier apparent hiccups with connecting,...

The world must take urgent action on climate change at upcoming UN talks in Glasgow or low-lying Pacific nations will face a “dire” future, Samoa's new leader has told AFP in an interview. Fiame Naomi Mata'afa, who took office as Samoa's first female prime minister in late July, gave a stark assessment of the Pacific's prospects if efforts to tackle...