Results for Pacific Islands

There was a decline in the flow of tourists from Australia to the Cook Islands, Fiji, Samoa and Tonga during the first four months of 2017, according to the July 2017 issue of the Asian Development Bank Pacific Economic Monitor.

A prominent Australian economist, Dr Patricia Ranald, has called the Pacer-Plus agreement a “failed” regional agreement, because it excluded Fiji, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.

Concerns over El Nino impacts in the Pacific region during the planet's warmest half-year year on record between January to June 2016 is leading to better preparedness for coordinating humanitarian responses to disaster affected people in the Pacific.

“As Pacific islanders, we have been made custodians of our greatest assets – our people, our culture, our land and our oceans, by our forefathers. A duty we need to fulfill because if we are not careful, we will not only lose our home but we will lose the economic benefits that sustains our livelihoods,” said Christopher Cocker, CEO of the South Pacific Tourism Organisation (SPTO), at the Climate Action Pacific Partnership Event held last week in Suva, Fiji.

Tonga Police's final contingent to the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI) returned to Tonga when the 14-years regional peacekeeping mission ended on 30 June in Honiara.

A conference designed to raise awareness of opportunities and challenges affecting Pacific Island Countries saw policy makers, academics, researchers, private sector and public sector partners, business people and other development practitioners gather over two days at the University of the South Pacific on 20 - 21 June 2017.

The New Zealand Prime Minister Rt Hon Bill English will visit Tonga for the first time on June 15-17, during his 2017 Pacific Mission tour.

Over 100 stakeholders from across the Pacific are attending a logistics and communications cluster workshop with the aim to help Pacific nations to plan, prepare, respond and recover from emergencies such as natural disasters in Port Vila, Vanuatu, from 12 - 16 June.

“As we commemorate World Environment Day, connecting with nature, we focus our periscope on our Ocean. We must remember that our actions affect the ocean, even if we don’t live by the beach or eat fish. Reducing our carbon dioxide emissions will support ocean health – and the alternative is grim," said Mr Kosi Latu, Director General of the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP), this World Environment Day.