The Pacific Fund is funded by appropriations from the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) and helps to finance regional cooperation projects in the economic, cultural and scientific fields in the Pacific. It is implemented from Nouméa, as close as possible to the territories, by the Permanent Secretary for the Pacific, Ambassador Véronique Roger-Lacan.
This fund aims to support regional cooperation projects between French authorities (New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna) highlighting their know-how for the benefit of one or more Pacific island states.
The Pacific Fund is a tool for pooling the excellence of French Pacific communities for the benefit of the general interest and the people of the Pacific. A French Fund implemented BY French authorities in the Pacific FOR the benefit of the people of the Pacific.
In 2026, the Steering Committee of the Pacific Fund granted an envelope of €1.9 million for 54 cooperation projects involving at least one of the French authorities in connection with a dozen Pacific island states (Australia, Fiji, Nauru, New Zealand, Tokelau, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga). These are:
▪ High-level scientific collaborations between French Pacific laboratories and other island states to improve the health of the people of the Pacific (230k Euros):
✓Funding of the “Bright Pacific” consortium led by the Louis Malardé Institute of French Polynesia in partnership with Fiji National University (College of Medicine), the Oceania University of Medicine of Samoa and Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa to strengthen health risk surveillance capacities in these island states.
✓Support for the training of 50 educators from Vanuatu to carry out AIDS prevention actions by the Polynesian association “Agir contre le SIDA”,
✓Support for the work of the Pasteur Institute of New Caledonia for zoonotic risk assessment in Vanuatu to search for antibody agents against infectious agents.
✓Support for the “POLYBIO” project led by the Louis Malardé Institute to identify the anti-cancer properties of traditional Pacific plants and to have them recognized in the international pharmacopoeia.
▪ Research projects on the effects of climate change (259k Euros):
✓ Funding of the “Calmar” project of the Queensland University of Technology, in partnership with the University of New Caledonia, aimed at converting the organic waste stored in New Caledonia into biofuel.
✓ Support for the “Reef-up” project carried out in partnership with the Institute for Research for Development (IRD) and the Palao International Reef Center to test several innovative solutions on juvenile corals in order to strengthen their resistance to climate stress.
✓ Support for the Pacific Community (PSC) “Naurora” project, which is working on Nauru coral to trace several centuries of ocean climate change and its interactions with the coral ecosystem.
▪ Fostering human and sport exchanges (297 KEuros)
✓ Financial support for 5 sports exchange projects (rugby, rowing) between French territories and island states in the region, including a project to promote disability led by the South Province as part of the Pacific Games in Tahiti in 2027.
✓ Support for 5 training projects benefiting young people in French territories who will carry out internships in the fields of hotel and catering, mechanics, electricity, and languages in English-speaking establishments in the Pacific.
▪ Support cultural exchanges and promote the Francophonie in the Pacific zone (488k Euros):
✓ Financing of major audiovisual festivals organized in French Polynesia (FIFO) and New Caledonia (RECIF). Support for FIFO’s “Ocean Lab” initiative to train young Pacific islanders in audiovisual production.
✓ Support for Pacific islands Writers residence and the 26th Book Fair in Tahiti.
✓ Support for the Urban Film Festival, which will take place in Papua New Guinea and New Caledonia.
Finally, the Pacific Fund in 2026 renewed its €350K endowment for the “Pasifika Echoes” program led by the Pacific Community (CPS) to support audiovisual creation and safeguard Pacific Islands audiovisual heritage.
The Pacific Fund therefore offers the opportunity to emerge from concrete solutions, often innovative and not otherwise funded, to meet the challenges faced by the people of Oceania.
The projects supported by the Pacific Fund are fully in line with the major objectives pursued by regional organizations in the Pacific (PSC Strategic Plan 2022-2031 or Blue Pacific 2050 strategy of the Pacific Islands Forum).
