Results for Foreign Affairs

New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today 6 March officially announced diplomat Ms Tiffany Babington as New Zealand’s new High Commissioner to Tonga.

The Government of India has announced that it will provide USD$1 million owards Tonga’s recovery from Cyclone Gita. India’s Prime Minister H.E Mr. Narendra Modi sent a message to Tonga’s PM ‘Akilisi Pohiva on 16 February, announcing India’s contribution and conveyed his "deepest sympathies, thoughts and prayers for the victims of this natural calamity."

The Government of Tonga is dismissing accusations by a prominent Australian newspaper that China’s foreign aid is hurting Tonga’s economy. The news article claimed that many Tongans believe that they have been "sold out by the Tongan Government”.

Tonga was one of 21 countries absent from voting at the United Nations headquarters, New York, on December 21, when the UN passed a resolution opposing the United States' unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Samoa was also absent. While Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu attended but abstained from voting. Among the 128 countries that supported the resolution were New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.

China wants to share its development experiences with other countries, with a belief that everybody in the world shares the same future, Pacific Island journalists learned this week when they visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing. By Linny Folau.

Ambassadors to Tonga are presenting their credentials to HM King Tupou VI at the Royal Palace in Nuku'alofa this week during Diplomatic Week.

American, Dean Jay Fletcher (54) who is wanted in Tonga on the charge of brutally murdering his wife in July 2016 has been ordered released in Hawaii, after the United States District Court on November 1 ordered the dismissal of his extradition. The Tonga Government sought Fletcher's extraditon for the offenses of murder, manslughter, and inflicting grievous bodily harm. However, the US Secretary of State had "determined that Fletcher could not be guaranteed a fair trial in Tonga" because he did not have funds to defend himself.

Ordinary Tongan passports are in short supply due to unexpected increase in demand, which is causing delays in issuing some passports. Non-urgent applicants have been told the new stock is not expected until October.

The United States Government is still considering the extradition of Dean Jay Fletcher, an American citizen who escaped police custody in Vava’u last year after being charged with the murder of his wife on their yacht Sea Oak.