West Papua’s case heats up
Solomon Islands, Tonga join the cause WEST Papua and its campaign to seek more international support for independence has gone up a few notches with Pacific Island Leaders discussing their plight at their annual summit
2015 October
The returning son of a disappearing nation
THE deportation of Ioane Teitiota by the John Key government signals a strong message to the low-lying islands in the Pacific that they are not disappearing because their people are still “alive.” The New
Bribery case rocks Vanuatu
POLITICIANS FACE TRIAL THE people of Vanuatu are closely watching a high profile bribery case which involves 19 Government Members of Parliament in the country’s Supreme Court. On August 12 before a packed
From Vavau with love
Heilala Vanilla makes its mark in export vanilla markets A PIECE of the friendly Kingdom of Tonga in a bottle is what Heilala Vanilla is proving to be like for its customers abroad. So much so that the boutique vanilla
Sogavare moves to tighten grip
THE third meeting of the 10th Parliament of Solomon Islands begins on Thursday 15th October 2015. This meeting was delayed since July due to the busy schedule of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. The October sitting
Oceania football dumps treasurer
Missing audit notes, silence from Auckland BEHIND the world headlines about millions in FIFA bribes, corruption and multibillion contracts, the Pacific Islands region has yet to have its own story. Parts of the story
Solomon eyes interim EPA
More fracture in regional solidarity anticipated THE tear in Pacific solidarity over negotiations for a free trade agreement with the European Union may soon widen into a serious fracture with news that Solomon Islands
PACER Plus gets the nod
LEADERS have given their blessings on the near completion of negotiations for a free trade agreement between Forum island countries on the one hand and Australia and New Zealand on the other. Forum chair and Prime
Suva Declaration on Climate Change
More than a message in a bottle PACIFIC Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have penned what they believe is a strong and stern message to the industrialised world: It is an immoral betrayal for the world to let
Forum agrees to disagree on 1.5
AGREEING that a 1.5 degrees Celsius rise in temperature would “severely exacerbate” impacts of climate change in the “most vulnerable smaller island states of the Pacific,” leaders of the Pacific
A nation’s key to resilience
A SURVEY of the nature of climate change adaptation planning and implementation that is rolling out in the Pacific region may well reflect the predominance of infrastructural and/or physical investment and related
Landowners in billion-dollar deal
A MULTI-billion kina investment by a landowner company is expected to boost the tourism industry in Papua New Guinea. Star Mountain Plaza in Port Moresby, a project led by the Mineral Resources Development Company
E-money FAILS to sell
Call to review Pacific financial inclusion products FINANCIAL inclusion products for the Pacific islands need to be differentiated by their target markets and target clients. That’s the message from the Executive
Call to cut trade agreements
PACIFIC leaders have been told the cost of doing business in the islands will be greatly reduced if there are fewer trade agreements in the region. The advice came from Dr Edwini Kessie when he addressed Pacific leaders
We say
Embrace inclusivity, reject exclusivity WHEN the Pacific Islands Development Forum ejected West Papuan activist Octavianus Mote from its summit in Suva, Fiji, it missed an opportunity to show it was an inclusive
VDS has worked for us, says PNA
EXECUTIVE Director of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement Dr Transform Aqorau believes the group’s Vessel Day Scheme has been an effective tool in increasing it members’ share of the value of their tuna
Editor’s Note
IT was the 46th Pacific Islands Forum meeting yet local and Forum organisers seem to have stumbled through yet another annual Leaders’ meeting, marred by sloppy coordination and broken communications. More than
Marine Park in TROUBLED WATERS
LANDOWNERS of the US$161million site of what’s going to be the largest tuna processing zone in the South Pacific wants work on the site to stop immediately. In a petition signed by 5,000 people and sent to Prime
Whispers
NEVER before seen pictures of the six Pacific journalists that were detained in PNG the day they arrived to cover the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders summit. Told to step aside at the immigration line after their arrival
Deathtrap ferry
Vanuatu’s worst maritime tragedy raises questions on safety checks THE inter-island Vanuatu ferry which capsized and sank in July last year with the loss of four lives was a floating deathtrap, a leaked report has
Back to the future
How traditional Pacific navigators proved Thor Heyerdahl’s Kon Tiki theory wrong UNDER the gaze of the night stars, Tua Pittman comes alive with the spirit of his ancestors and navigates across the vast space