PINA

Fiji’s Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama used his inaugural speech as the new chair of the Pacific Islands Forum to offer an apology to the Micronesian members of the Pacific grouping who were angered by the way the Forum rejected their nominee for the Forum Secretary General job. “I offer you my deepest apology,” said Bainimarama at the handover ceremony done...

American President Joe Biden today addressed Pacific Leaders to reiterate his country’s support for the Pacific. “The U.S is a proud Pacific power, and will continue to be an active, engaged, partner in the region, and a friend to all your countries,” President Biden said in a video sent to the first day of the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ meeting...

The Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Henry Puna, says today's meeting will honour the leaders who set up the organisation, 50 years ago. The leaders of the Cook Islands, Fiji, Nauru, Tonga and Samoa together with Australia and New Zealand met in Wellington from 05 – 07 August 1971. This was the first South Pacific Forum meeting. At the time,...

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape says his Government wants to make the 2022 national election “fair and friendly to everyone”. He said this when speaking at the Registry of Political Parties’ Learning and Development Workshop in Port Moresby. The two-day event is being attended by executives of political parties. “Talking about the National Election, our Government wants to make it...

Fiji’s Minister for Women, Children and Poverty Alleviation, Mereseini Vuniwaqa has resigned from Fiji’s cabinet. Vuniwaqa’s resignation takes effect Thursday, several sources close to cabinet have confirmed. She has applied to be the new executive director of UN Women. It’s understood she has been interviewed for that role. Vuniwaqa is one of several candidates who have applied from the Asia-Pacific, to replace...

Fiji has recorded 968 new cases of COVID-19 and 11 new deaths Thursday increasing the total number of cases in the island nation to 34,818 since the outbreak that started in April this year. Fiji's permanent secretary for Health, Dr James Fong said 292 cases are from the Western division and 676 cases are from the Central division in Vitilevu,...

Eight additional COVID-19 positive infections in Papua New Guinea have been identified as being the highly infectious Delta strain. Police Commissioner and Controller of the PNG COVID-19 National Pandemic Response David Manning made the announcement of the new detections after the first Delta positive case three weeks ago. The Controller highlighted the risk of the onset of a potential third wave...

Fiji will take the role of the Chair of the 51st Pacific Forum Leaders Meeting which convenes Friday to commemorate the historic 50th anniversary of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama will be joined by the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum at the virtual meeting based on the theme, “Security and Prosperity in Unity: 50 Years...

A United States government committee has directed the country's Department of Energy to address safety shortfalls over its handling of nuclear waste stored in the infamous Runit Dome in the Marshall Islands. The dome on Enewetak atoll was used to store radioactive materials left over from US nuclear weapons testing during the 1940s and 1950s. According to the Marshall Islands Nuclear...

A shipment of 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccines funded by the New Zealand Government and sourced in cooperation with Spain has arrived in Fiji. While handing over the vaccines to the Minister for Health, High Commissioner Jonathan Curr reaffirmed New Zealand’s commitment to support our Fijian whanau to access safe and effective vaccines and help protect against COVID-19. “AstraZeneca is Fiji’s...