Palau
Authorities
in Palau have laid out preparation plans for hosting the
Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting.
The Island
Times reports President Surangel Whipps Jr addressed
accommodation concerns last week.
He said hotel rooms
are secured for heads of state, but lodging citywide is
filling up quickly, and urged residents with available rooms
to list them on Airbnb.
He said similar public
accommodation-sharing arrangements have supported past PIF
meetings.
Justice Minister Jennifer Olegeriil said a
“progressive” security plan is in place and continuing to be
built with support from international
partners.
Fiji
The Australian Centre for
International Justice (ACIJ) has raised concern over Fiji’s
human rights record in the wake of the signing of two
agreements with Australia.
The ACIJ said it is deeply
concerned that Australia is expanding defence and security
ties with Fiji had been announced, despite unresolved
allegations of torture, ill-treatment and custodial violence
by the Fijian military.
It also said it represents a
Fijian torture survivor abused by members of the Fijian
military.
The centre said, where there are credible
concerns that a state’s security forces have committed
serious human rights violations, defence cooperation should
be subject to robust human rights conditions, including
independent vetting, ongoing monitoring and accountability
safeguards.
Tuvalu
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Tuvalu is close to
finalising a National Security Policy placing maritime
conservation and management at the centre of its
strategy.
Officials and community stakeholders met
last week to review the draft before
endorsement.
Fakasoa Tealei from Tuvalu Prime
Minister’s Office said the policy looks beyond policing and
defence.
It covers climate change, cyber and maritime
security, transnational crime, migration, energy security
and economic resilience.
New
Zealand/Pacific
New Zealand’s government has
announced it will talk with Australia and Fiji on the
possibility of joining their Ocean of Peace
Alliance.
The mutual defence treaty was signed in Fiji
this week, the same day that China launched a missile test
in the South Pacific.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon
said New Zealand already works with both Australia and Fiji
on how to develop a safer region, so engaging with them on
this alliance is logical.
The alliance is a mutual
defence treaty that commits its parties to cooperate and
consult, and to act to meet common danger.
It provides
for other Pacific States to join, with the agreement of
Australia and Fiji.
Tuvalu/Federated States of
Micronesia
Tuvalu and the Federated States of
Micronesia (FSM) have backed the call by the head of the
United Nations for stronger international action on methane
emissions.
UN secretary-general António Guterres has
called for governments and industries to move beyond
voluntary commitments and deliver measurable emissions
reductions.
The Pacific Island Times reported
Tuvalu and the FSM saying methane mitigation is one of the
most effective but underutilised climate
solutions
They say the issue carries particular
urgency for low-lying island nations already facing rising
sea levels, coastal erosion, changing weather patterns and
warming oceans.
Vanuatu
China has donated
three new television cameras to Vanuatu’s state
broadcaster
The equipment was requested by the Vanuatu
Broadcasting and Television Corporation.
VBTC
said the donation will improve its news gathering and
production for audiences across Vanuatu.
China’s
ambassador to Vanuatu Li Minggang said the support to
VBTC will strengthen people-to-people exchanges and
help build local media capacity.
Papua New
Guinea
PNG Prime Minister James Marape says a new
audit recognises public concern over how government funds
for small and medium enterprises – or SMEs- were
handled.
The audit follows allegations relating to the
management of 200 million Kina under the Ministry of
Commerce and Industry.
Marape has ordered the National
Monitoring Coordination Authority, and other departments
through the Chief Secretary, to appoint an independent firm
to audit the SME funding programme.
The audit will
check how much public money was allocated, released and
spent, and whether payments followed government
rules.
Marape said the claims remain allegations and
urged people to allow the process to run its
course.
Local media report Commerce and Industry
Minister Win Daki has had his portfolio removed, but he
denies any wrongdoing.
Papua New Guinea
The US
has announced a US$30 million investment to deploy Starlink
satellite access across Papua New Guinea.
The
low-orbit satellite service owned by Space-X recently gained
a license to operate in PNG.
The Post Courier
reported the US Charge d’Affaires in PNG Alex Berenberg
calling the technology “transformational”.
He said the
investment will help bring high-speed, low-latency internet
to hundreds of clinics, schools and government offices that
have been cut off from the digital
world.
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