Results for Pacific Islands

Tonga formally called on all Pacific nations to join a block of governments seeking a negotiating mandate to develop a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty on 12 May 2023, at the Fifth Pacific Regional Energy and Transport Ministers' Meeting in Port Vila, Vanuatu.

More effective, consistent government investments in the health, education, and wellbeing of Pacific people will ultimately deliver sustained economic and social benefits to the region, a new World Bank report into public spending in the Pacific has found. “If the report’s suggested reforms are implemented, Pacific countries could deliver government revenues and budget savings equivalent to between three and 43 percent of GDP. These resources could represent a unique chance for increasing education, healthcare, and other necessary public investments across the region – which would mean more opportunities and better outcomes for Pacific people,” said Stephen Ndegwa, World Bank Country Director for Papua New Guinea and the Pacific Islands.

Senior electoral officials, including Tonga's, attended the region's administrators network in Nadi from 2-4 May, the first time they have met since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Pacific Community’s (SPC) Polynesia Regional Office opened on 27 April in Nuku'alofa to serve as a hub to enhance support for Polynesian member countries.

Tongan students met the Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, Hon. Carmel Sepuloni and her delegation, during a program to create climate change awareness, held at the Falemasiva Hall, Tailulu College, Tongatapu. This was after a NZ$30 million partnership to boost and accelerate climate action across the Pacific, was announced yesterday, 20 April.

New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister, Carmel Sepuloni arrived in Tonga this evening, 19 April on the last leg of a Pacific Mission, that first visited Solomon Islands and Fiji.

Young entrepreneur, Arthur Cocker of Defiant Robotics, showcased his first robot today in a demonstration for Tonga Power Limited and other parties interested in the bot fully manufactured in Tonga using 3D printing technology. This one is designed to clean solar panels.

The 2022 eruption of a submarine volcano in Tonga was more powerful than the largest U.S. nuclear explosion, according to a new study. A 15-megaton volcanic explosion from Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha'apai generated a mega-tsunami with waves up to 85 meters (279 feet) high one minute after the explosion of "Blast 5", and hitting Tonga's coastlines up to 45-meters high (148 feet) at Tofua Island and waves up to 17 meters (56 feet) on Tongatapu. A new simulation in the study led by scientists at the University of Miami and the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation also suggests that the eruption location relative to urban centers saved Tonga from a worse outcome.

Pacific Education Ministers are meeting for the first time in Auckland from 20-22 March to share knowledge and good practices, identify areas of action and explore innovative approaches that member countries can adopt to develop education systems in the region.