Results for Pacific Islands

The United States has stepped up its commitment to work with its Pacific Island partners with the second visit to the region by the US Assistant Secretary for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Kurt M. Campbell, and the Pacific Fleet Commander, Admiral Cecil Haney, with an interagency delegation.

Kurt Campbell, the US Assistant Secretary of State for the East Asian and Pacific Affairs, arrives in Tonga on August 1, the first stop of a tour that includes six other Pacific Island countries.

"I am quite surprised, you know there is a mention of a plot to assassinate the illegal dictator in Fiji, so I am still surprised as to how my name came into the picture," was Ratu Tevita Mara's reaction to a TVNZ news item that the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service SIS and police had this week raided the Auckland home of Rajesh Singh, alleged to be involved in a plot to kill Fiji leader Frank Bainimarama and his Attorney General Ayaz Sayed Khaiyum.

The European Union is committed to conclude comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements EPAs with the Pacific region, said the President of the European Union Council and Danish Minister for Development Cooperation, Christian Friis Bach. By Linny Folau in Port Vila.

Australia is the largest single ultimate destination for Chinese direct investment, and though Australia is a relatively small economy, it is likely to remain one of China's largest foreign investment destinations for a while to come. At the same time, the scale and pace of growth in Chinese direct investment has led to populist reactions that have challenged the open investment regime in Australia and, in particular, raised policy questions about whether investments by state-owned enterprises (SOEs) need to be treated differently from private investment. By Peter Drysdale, Australia National University.

The African, Caribbean and Pacific Group has responded in solidarity to the concern and frustration voiced by its Pacific member states over an apparent lack of commitment from the European Union to conclude comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements. By Linny Folau in Port Vila.

The 95th Session of the ACP Council of Ministers Meeting was opened on June 11, with an emphasis to reinvent ACP as a group to ensure a more solid relationship with the European Union and become a world player under a changing global landscape.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a $2.06 million regional technical assistance project, supported by the Government of Australia, to boost aid coordination in the Pacific by expanding ADB’s field presence in the region.

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has pledged US$500 million dollars in aid to the Pacific Islands over the next three years, at the conclusion of the Sixth Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting in Okinawa, on Saturday, May 26.