PINA

An ambitious proposal for a new sports diplomacy mission dubbed ‘Team AusPac’ was tabled in the Australian Federal Parliament last Wednesday, aimed at deepening ties between Australia and Pacific island countries. Chair of the Australian Parliament’s Trade Sub-Committee, MP Ted O’Brien, announced the proposal which forms part of a Parliamentary Inquiry report entitled ‘One Region, One Family, One Future’. “Australia and...

Fijiana XV’s have been pumping up preparation off the field leading up to the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand next year. World Rugby made the decision to postpone the 2021 Rugby World Cup due to the uncertainty and the challenges of a global COVID-19 landscape. Fijiana have not played a match together since they last played a year ago, the...

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) will tap a U.S funding facility to construct a Pacific undersea communications cable, two sources told Reuters, after rejecting a Chinese company-led proposal that was deemed a security threat by U.S officials. The United States has taken great interest in several plans in recent years to lay optic fibre cables across the Pacific, projects...

Fiji has recorded 156 new cases of COVID-19 Sunday, increasing the total number of cases in the island nation to 47,795 with 506 deaths since the outbreak in April. Permanent secretary for Health, Dr James Fong said 79 cases are from the Western division, 73 cases are from the Central division in Vitilevu, Fiji's main island and four cases are...

Health authorities in West Sepik in Papua New Guinea are seeking help to manage the COVID-19 pandemic as the number of cases rise. They are also advocating for provincial lockdown or a partial lockdown to prevent a possible second surge of COVID-19 cases. It had a lock-down early this year when it had its first surge. Director for WSP Public Health...

Kiribati started to rollout the Chinese-made Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines on Friday. Kiribati President Taneti Maamau, Minister of Health and Medical Services Dr Tinte Itinteang, Chinese Ambassador to Kiribati Tang Songgen and other officials attended the ceremony held in Tarawa, capital of Kiribati. The vaccines, which arrived in the south Pacific island country on Wednesday, were donated by China to help the...

To reach Nakida village in the highlands of Fiji, Dr Losalini Tabakei and her colleagues hiked for hours, up and down mountains, through forests, down muddy slopes, across rivers and along treacherous ridges with steep slopes of bamboo forest on either side. Their supplies – clothing, medical equipment and, crucially, the Covid-19 vaccines they were bringing to administer to the...

A multi-million dollar grant for the provision of a new tugboat for Tonga was signed by the Japanese Ambassador to Tonga Kensaku Munenaga and the Prime Minister, Dr Pohiva Tu’i’onetoa. The agreement, worth approximately US$10 million from the Japanese Government under its Non-Project Grant Aid scheme, will be used for the provision of a new tugboat for the Port of...

Nauru President Lionel Aingimea said Micronesian nations have not changed their position on leaving the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) but that the sub-region is engaging with the other leaders to discuss the rift. President Aingimea, in a virtual press conference at the 20th Micronesian Presidents’ Summit conclusion, told reporters that the issue of the fracture has been “discussed at length...

Micronesian countries look to Palau as leader of tourism bubble success, Nauru President Lionel Aingimea told reporters Thursday. President Aingimea said transportation and people moving from one country to another is not the easiest task during the coronavirus pandemic. “We not only have countries closing borders, but bigger countries like Australia having within their own states closing borders to the other...