Lots more goodwill need to flow into trade talks
BOTH parties seeking a comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) – the European Union on one side of the table and Pacific members of the African, Caribbean and the Pacific bloc on the other – need
The only sore spot all along was … media relations
From political pariah to the most sought after regional leader, Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama’s transformation has few parallels in modern political history. More often than not, when a military leader
Women’s welfare directly affects children
Pacific Island leaders are often given to wax eloquent on the respect that Pacific culture accords to women. Polynesian women have often gone on record saying that their culture “puts women on a pedestal”.
States must help pay for insurance
It’s that time of the year, again, when much of the Pacific Islands region braces for what everyone calls the ‘cyclone season.’ Over the next several months, weathermen and weatherwomen across the
Everything they do seems like a kneejerk reaction
More recently in our globalised world, the word contagion has increasingly come to be used in the contexts of terrorism or financial crises – or for that matter anything that spreads fast and with little control,
Democracy is relatively new and unique
Aspate of successful elections in the South Pacific in the latter half of this year spells a resounding win for democracy in the region and for Pacific peoples. There is no such thing as a perfect democracy, just as
Syrian crisis touches lives in the Pacific
The leader of a major western country while recently visiting a Pacific Island nation asked the host Prime Minister if his country could export some of the peacefulness of his country to the world. The Pacific Islands
Elections will bring a return to confidence
With the successful completion of last month’s election process, Fijians have hit the reset button on their polity. They have elected their first democratic government in as many as eight years. International
Small islands must help themselves
Samoa deserves all the credit for successfully pulling off the third United Nations Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) conference in Apia last month. It was the biggest event of its kind to be ever held in the
Confusion causes skepticism and policy paralysis
What outcomes should the world’s small island states that are congregating in Samoa realistically hope for at the conclusion of the conference in early September? These island states, joined at the hip by the
Nauru, Cook Islands elect women MPs
The Pacific Islands region has often figured at the bottom of global gender parity statistics. The region has the fewest women parliamentarians, at no time in their histories since independence more than a handful
