Results for foreign affairs

Tonga hosted the Australia-Tonga High Level Consultations on 11 February, bringing senior officials from both Governments together to discuss past, ongoing and future cooperation. This year’s talks in Nuku'alofa involved over a dozen ministries across both countries.

New Zealand Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Rt. Hon. Winston Peters, is making an official visit to Tonga, arriving tonight, at Fua'amotu International Airport.

On Australia Day, we celebrate our nation, its achievements and most of all its people. Today is an opportunity to reflect, respect and connect with all Australians who contribute to our great nation. We acknowledge Australia’s First Nations peoples, custodians of the oldest continuing culture on earth spanning more than 65,000 years. Australia is a successful, multicultural society bringing together people from across the globe with shared values of fairness, tolerance, and diversity. The more than 43,000 people in Australia who identify as having Tongan heritage make invaluable contributions to the fabric of our nation (not only on the sporting field!). Similarly, there is a community of Australians who live and work here in the Kingdom of Tonga. Thank you for the contribution you make to the ties that bind us as people and as nations. - Statement from Australia’s High Commissioner to Tonga, HE Rachael Moore.

On a first visit to Tonga by a US cabinet member, today, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, took a few quiet minutes to lay a wreath at the seafront Cenotaph in Nuku'alofa, before he met with the Tongan Prime Minister and other officials at St George Government Building across the road. The War Memorial honours the Tongan fallen in two World Wars. In WWII there were more American troops stationed in Tongatapu than Tongans. During the morning, Secretary Blinken spoke about US perceptions of today's superpower rivalry in Tonga and the Pacific region, when he was answering questions at a media briefing.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken will travel to Tonga, New Zealand, and Australia, July 24-29, the State Department announced last night. Secretary Blinken is the first Secretary of State to visit Tonga, and this is his third trip to a Pacific Island country, and his 12th trip to the Indo-Pacific region. In Tonga he will dedicate the new U.S. Embassy “and advance key discussions with our Tongan partners.”

The French Ambassador to the Kingdom of Tonga, HE Mr. François-Xavier Leger, paid a courtesy call on the Prime Minister, Hon. Hu'akavameiliku today 26 May 2023.

Eight Non-Resident Ambassadors in Tonga presented their credentials to King Tupou VI, at the Royal Palace in Nuku’alofa, during Diplomatic Week 5-9 December. It was the first in-person diplomatic ceremonies since the border opened after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tonga faces continual challenges and is extremely vulnerable to the existential threat of climate change and climate disasters, the Minister for Foreign Affairs told Commonwealth counterparts in Canada yesterday. “We must urgently invest in more disaster risk preparedness,” Hon. Fekita 'Utoikamanu told the CPA Small Branches Network.

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister, Hon. Nanaia Mahuta will arrive in Tonga, tomorrow 18 August, on her first official visit. She said she will provide an update on New Zealand's climate finance strategy in Nuku’alofa on Friday.