How the Pacific can learn from each other, and unite on COVID vaccines

Pacific island nations can learn from the early roll-out of coronavirus vaccines in the north Pacific says the World Health Organisation’s  Representative in the South Pacific. The Pacific’s COVID response is

Read More

It’s Micronesia’s turn to head the Forum: Tong

As Pacific leaders meet Wednesday this week to try and select the next head of the Pacific Islands Forum, Former Kiribati Leader AnoteTong weighs in on what has been a divisive process. Long-time President of Kiribati,

Read More

Pacific remittances remain buoyant despite the pandemic

Early this year as borders closed, and the depth and severity of the impact of the coronavirus on Pacific island economies became evident, experts predicted a dramatic decline in remittances to our region. In revised

Read More

Forum to hold virtual climate summit

The Pacific Islands Forum will hold a two hour virtual summit tonight, dubbed “Kainaki II to COP 26 – a High-Level Roundtable on Urgent Climate Change Action.” This week’s online summit comes on the eve of

Read More

Nuclear ban treaty opens way for Pacific nuclear survivors

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, first adopted by the UN General Assembly in July 2017, will enter into force on 22 January, after the 50th signatory deposited its ratification of the treaty with the

Read More

Foreign Ministers prepare for Forum leaders meeting

COVID, climate and oceans were high on the agenda, as foreign ministers and officials from around the region met online on 14 October, for the 2020 Forum Foreign Ministers Meeting (FFMM). This year’s ministerial

Read More

Cook Islands ratifies PACER Plus

The Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus (PACER Plus) is to come into force with the Cook Islands ratifying the agreement this week. Cook Islands is the eighth signatory to PACER Plus, joining Australia,

Read More

5-way race for Forum leadership

Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Dame Meg Taylor has declined to comment on the negotiations over her successor as head of the regional organisation, saying only “I have a job to do and I’m going to do it

Read More

Opinion: Building the Pacific the Pacific Way

The Pacific Way was coined by the late Fijian and Pacific Islands stateman, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, in which people of different races, opinions and cultures can live and work together for the good of all, can differ

Read More

Pacific fishing surveillance operation ending with 24 boardings

“Fishing doesn’t stop, so neither will our surveillance,” said Commander Robert Lewis, at the Forum Fisheries Agency’s Regional Fisheries Surveillance Centre (RFSC) in Honiara as Operation Rai Balang

Read More

Pacific predictions: 2020

As we enter not only a new year but a new decade, there is much to anticipate in the Pacific islands region. Elections and domestic politics A number of countries in the region will have elections during 2020: Kiribati,

Read More

Forum marathon reveals tensions over climate policy

By Nic Maclellan in Funafuti, Tuvalu In a marathon leaders’ retreat that continued well into the night, with often heated debate, the Pacific Islands Forum has issued a joint communique and a new declaration on

Read More