BY NED GAGAHE
Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele, has delivered a strong and unifying message at the opening of the 54th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Plenary Meeting, declaring that the Pacific region “must never be seen as an arena for others”.
Speaking to fellow Pacific leaders in a fast-shifting geopolitical landscape, PM Manele emphasised that the region’s strength lies in its solidarity, shared values, and collective action.
“The world around us is changing fast. Competition among powerful interests is intensifying. And the Pacific must never be seen as an arena for others,” he said.
“We are not passive bystanders. We are nations. Bound by shared values and the Pacific way.”
PM Manele’s remarks come amid growing interest in the Pacific by major powers, including the United States, China, and others, who have intensified their diplomatic, economic, and strategic outreach in recent years.
The 2025 Forum is held under the theme ‘Iumi Tugeda: Act Now for an Integrated Blue Pacific Continent’ which Manele described as “a resounding call for a renewed commitment to defend regionalism.”
He said leaders must use the opportunity to strengthen the Pacific Islands Forum as the region’s premier political and policy institution.
“Our discussions today have been informed by a multitude of sectoral conversations throughout the year. And I look forward to engaging on these issues to support the progress of our collective priorities,” he said.
Reflecting on the structure of the meeting, PM Manele acknowledged the growing role of sectoral ministries in shaping the leaders’ agenda.
He noted that proposals to review the agenda-setting process to ensure better alignment between the design and implementation of Forum priorities, especially within the context of ongoing discussions on the regional architecture.
“I encourage us to keep this in mind throughout the deliberation of the issues before us today,” Manele stated.
He also called on leaders to consider the formalization of certain agenda-setting practices to ensure the Forum remains effective in advancing the Pacific’s shared priorities.
PM Manele concluded with a forward-looking vision for the region, calling on leaders to “secure a peaceful, resilient and prosperous Blue Pacific for generations to come.”
His statement reinforced the Pacific’s commitment to maintaining regional independence and unity in the face of external pressures.
“We believe in the regime’s strength and authority to advance our priorities,” he said.
The 54th PIF Leaders Plenary is expected to address pressing regional issues, including climate resilience, ocean governance, regional security, and the future direction of the Pacific regional architecture.

BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory opinion represents a blueprint for structural change.
Vanuatu Minister for Climate Change Adaptation, Energy, Environment, Meteorology, Geo-Hazard and Disaster Management, Ralph Regenvanu highlighted during the penal discussion on Understanding the ICJ -AO on Climate Change held at the Aquatic Centre yesterday.
“For Vanuatu, this opinion represents a blueprint for structural change inside our country, as well as outward facing. We are already integrating its conclusions into our updated Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) 3.0, which our Council of Ministers approved last week, and soon will be available publicly. We have put the ICJ-AO into the NDC, and climate due diligence will become part of the state’s governance architecture,” Minister Regenvanu said.
He said that it is not about short-term measures but about reshaping institutions and systems to ensure long-term accountability.
“We are aligning our NDCs with the court’s opinion at the national level. All licensing, permitting and procurement should pass through an ICJ implementation test to ensure projects are consistent with what has been defined as our duty to prevent climate harm. We are institutionalising procedures to invoke state responsibility, including notifications seeking cessation and remedies when foreign conduct harms Vanuatu.
He said that Mitigation and protection laws will be restructured to reflect the principle of non-refoulement, ensuring climate displaced persons are protected with dignity.
“We are also looking at safeguarding our sovereignty by securing maritime zones under UNCLOS so that rising seas cannot erase our entitlements. And we will establish a National Loss and Damage Claims and Evidence Facility to systematically document climate harm linked to our National Loss and Damage Fund, an institutional pathway for reparations and justice,” he said.

BY SAMIE WAIKORI

The Prime Minister of Fiji – the leader who championed the Ocean of Peace concept adopted yesterday in Honiara, says the declaration reaffirmed the Pacific way of unity that values peace and security.

It will also show to the world the Pacific people mean business with peace in the region, which reflects the collective stories of the Pacific islands.

“Today, through the ocean of peace, we recognise the rights of the people to peace and reaffirm the strong resolve of our people to contribute to and strengthen international peace and security.

“By this declaration, we have declared and secured this right,” he said.

Rabuka added the creates opportunity for unique cultures and people to declare their homes, waters, food sources, livelihoods, development and aspirations free of coercion.

He said it demands a certain standard of behaviour, one that embraces the principles enshrined in the UN Charter.

The PM emphasized that the 2025 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent is integral to the new way of thinking that is needed for Pacific region.

“While the region is in transition from cooperation to integration, we do so with a time-tested dream of the Pacific way.

“Dialogue, unity, faith, and trust are integral to that. Inherent to these is our agility as a region. These, too, are founding tenets of our Pacific regionalism,” Rabuka said.

He added unity among Pacific family fundamental for the ocean of peace to work. The foreign family is called upon to live by the values reflecting peace as one of the highest virtues.

“We are the demonstration of the principles we advocate, and the Pacific way is the fountain and platform on which we stand.

“The ocean of peace is also an end state. It will demonstrate that our region is free from militarisation, consistent with UN Charter, while embracing multiracialism and the principles of collective action.

“The ocean of peace tells the world who we are as a people, who we are as a region.

“Our silence must never be misread for emptiness or weakness. That we resent disrespect and coercion, while we might be small, our determination and faith in God, in the God we serve, is the very source of our being and regard,” Rabuka said.

BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
The International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion (ICJ-AO) will empower Pacific voices by providing a platform for Pacific Island countries to assert their rights and interests in international climate obligations.
Chair of the Small Island State (SIS) President of Kiribati HE President Taneti Maamau said this during the session ‘Understanding the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion on Climate Change’ at Aquatic Centre yesterday on the margins of this year’s Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) leaders meeting.
President Maamau said that the ICJ Advisory Opinion is a milestone and a great achievement for the global family, especially those facing the dire consequences of climate change.
“And mostly in our part of the world, the Pacific region,” he said.
He was responding on what ways can the ICJ Advisory Opinion be leveraged to enhance accountability and drive concrete action at national, regional, and multilateral levels during a penal discussion.
He said that the outcome of the ICJ verdict is very fundamental, as it helps to clarify the state obligations and legal consequences that small island countries can face.
He further adds that the ICJ also has provided the avenue which helps the region to validate their climate concerns.
“Especially to recognize the catastrophic threat posed by climate change to our sovereignty, territorial rights, and human integrity,” Maamau said.
He said that the decision itself also sets a very good precedent by establishing a framework for holding states accountable for greenhouse gas emissions and the climate impacts on vulnerable nations like the rest of the pacific region.
“And in that regard, I would like to, on behalf of my country and the Pacific region, thank the government and the people of Vanuatu for taking such a very ambitious initiative together with our youth community throughout the Pacific,” he said.

BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
Pacific Island states should use the International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion (ICJ-AO) to advocate for more ambitious commitments at COP30, robust loss and damage finance, and a rapid end to fossil fuel expansion.
Vanuatu Minister for Climate Change Adaptation, Energy, Environment, Meteorology, Geo-Hazard and Disaster Management, Ralph Regenvanu echoed this during the penal discussion on Understanding the ICJ -AO on Climate Change held at the Aquatic Centre yesterday.
“The upcoming United Nation (UN) General Assembly resolution on the ICJ Opinion would further acknowledge these obligations internationally. It represents a key avenue for translating legal authority into collective action,” said Regenvanu.
He also said that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Advisory opinion represents a blueprint for structural change.
“So, at the national and regional and international level, these structural changes will turn the advisory opinion into real accountability and action,” he said.
He further said that the ICJ has confirmed that the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a human right under international law at the regional level.
“For the Pacific, this opens the door to regional recognition of this right, for example through the Pacific Islands Forum. Embedding this right regionally would give our people a stronger shield against climate harm, and another tool to hold harmful conduct accountable. And at the multilateral level, the ICJ Opinion confirms that climate treaties exist under customary law and are a legal term, ergo omnes, owed to all humanity,” he said.
“The Court situated its opinion against five decades of treaties, and steadily worsening science. It declared climate change to be, and I quote, a quintessentially universal risk, a danger that binds us all. This makes NDCs not just voluntary pledges but legal benchmarks,” said Regenvanu.

BY BEN BILUA
FORUM Chair Jeremiah Manele has acknowledged the presence of Council of Regional Organisation in the Pacific [CROP] at the 54th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting.
Speaking at the Leaders Dialogue with CROP Manele said, the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific play an instrumental role in the implementation of any decisions coming out from forum meetings.
He said CROP agencies have invested in aligning to the region’s collective 2050 Strategy which is not regional leaders’ strategy but a document collectively agreed up by the Blue Pacific Continent.
Manele salutes all CROP Heads, and their respective Teams for working to support the 2050 Strategy Implementation.
“I recognise that we are still in early days of implementation but I remain confident that with the right mechanisms, institutional arrangements and the collective political will of this body, we will advance towards the achievement of our 2050 Vision.
“This is not a mere aspiration – it is an imperative. All of us around this table today, including our CROP Heads, are entrusted with the responsibility of Leadership; to ensure that we can collectively deliver for our people, to drive the collective aspirations of our governments, to advocate for the partnerships and support that we need to ensure our priorities are implemented,” he said.
Manele said the regional system must always be, first and foremost, centered on the people and the membership that it serves.
He said collective decisions as Forum Leaders are for nought, if it is not supported by the implementation machinery such as the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific.
“I encourage us to engage with openness, candour, and the spirit of solidarity that defines our Blue Pacific Continent,” Manele said.

BY BEN BILUA
PACIFIC Civil Society Organisation has called on Pacific leaders to seriously work towards expanding the pacific family.
The organisation made reference to the issues of West Papua, New Caledonia, French Polynesia and Kingdom of Hawaii – calling on regional leaders for greater support.
Joining the call was the General Secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches Reverend James Bhagwan who is in Honiara for the 54th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting.
He put forward four recommendations to leaders that would help address the issues in the long term.
The first recommendation is for Pacific Islands Forum Secretariate to institutionalise human rights and self determination as standing agenda items at the 54th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting – this will ensure the participation of lived experience communities and independent experts and supporting mechanisms for independent reporting, peer review and civil society monitoring across member states.
The second recommendation is to task the PIP Secretariat to co develop a regional strategy on human rights and self determination within the next 12 months with independent experts and our communities.
Third call is that the forum should recognize and elevate ongoing justice claims, including nuclear survivors, the climate displacement challenges facing and economic communities as regional priorities under the Pacific’s commitment to dignity, fairness and accountability.
A final call is for regional leaders to re engage with UN Human Rights processes, including The Office of the UN Human Rights, UN Human Rights Commissioner, the C24 and to support enhanced human rights monitoring in West Papua.
Bhagwan said churches in the region and other civil society organisations stand by the recommendations and would like to see regional leaders to take serious consideration.
“This is a journey, not just for those sitting here, but for each one of us, because that’s what pacific solidarity is,” he said.

By BEN BILUA
THE late arrival of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to the 54th Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Honiara has sparked mixed reactions from leaders and ordinary Solomon Islanders alike.
The forum officially opened on Monday this week, with leaders from across the Pacific already engaged in dialogues and side meetings.
Mr Albanese arrived two days later, raising eyebrows and prompting questions about Australia’s priorities in its relationship with the region.
Observers say the late arrival was not just a matter of scheduling but symbolically undermined the spirit of unity and respect that the Forum seeks to foster.
For some, it sent a message that Australia, often described as a “traditional partner” of the Pacific, views the gathering as secondary to its own domestic and foreign policy interests.
“This show is disrespectful not only to the host country but also to Pacific leaders who have been dedicating their time since the official opening,” one regional commentator told this paper.
“It reinforces the perception that Australia comes to the table when it suits them, not when the Pacific needs them.”
Critics argue that Australia’s approach reflects a pattern of pursuing its own strategic goals in the region rather than addressing Pacific-led priorities.
Examples frequently raised include the country’s management of the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme, where reports of exploitative conditions and human rights violations have emerged.
Australia’s broader security posture in the Pacific is also under scrutiny. On Tuesday this week, Vanuatu refused to sign a proposed security and development agreement with Canberra, citing concerns that such a deal could limit its ability to access infrastructure funding and partnerships from other countries, including China.
Media reports suggested that the Vanuatu agreement was one of two major security pacts Australia had hoped to secure this month, as part of a wider strategy to counter Beijing’s growing influence in the Pacific.
With PM Albanese now in Honiara, attention has turned to his closed-door meetings with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele.
Analysts expect Australia to quietly lobby for stronger alignment against China’s presence in the region.
This comes against the backdrop of Solomon Islands’ own controversial security agreement with Beijing in 2022, which strained ties with Canberra and prompted Australia to recalibrate its Pacific engagement.
While some view the Australian leader’s visit as an opportunity to reset relations, others remain wary.
For Solomon Islanders, the timing of his arrival and the weight of past grievances raise questions about whether Australia is truly committed to listening to the Pacific or simply using the Forum as a stage for its geopolitical agenda.
As the Forum continues, the test for Australia will be whether it can move beyond power politics and demonstrate genuine respect for Pacific priorities such as climate change, resilience, and sustainable development or whether its actions will continue to feed perceptions of a partner out of step with the region it claims to stand beside.

BY NED GAGAHE
The Pacific region is setting a global benchmark in ocean diplomacy, with 75 percent of shared maritime boundaries concluded through signed treaties significantly above the global average of 60 percent.
Speaking at a sideline event yesterday on “Securing the Blue Pacific Continent: Finalising Maritime Boundaries and Advancing 100% Ocean Management”, Director General of the Pacific Community (SPC) Dr Stuart Minchin reaffirmed the region’s leadership in ocean governance, commending Pacific Island countries for their unwavering commitment to settling maritime boundaries and adopting forward-looking ocean policies.
“The Pacific is leading the world in ocean diplomacy,” Mr Minchin, cited progress made over two decades of sustained technical cooperation, political will, and regional solidarity.
Since the launch of the Solomon Islands’ National Ocean Policy in 2018, the region has witnessed a surge in national efforts to finalise maritime boundaries and secure sovereign rights over vast ocean spaces.
To date, eight Pacific countries have adopted National Ocean Policies, a figure that continues to grow.
The SPC, which serves as the technical custodian of the Pacific Maritime Boundaries Project, has played a key role in facilitating boundary agreements, extended continental shelf submissions, and the development of digital governance tools.
Among recent successes, Tuvalu and Kiribati finalised their maritime boundary treaty earlier this year.
The Cook Islands received a positive recommendation on its Manihiki Plateau submission, an effort 16 years in the making.
Minchin revealed that three new Extended Continental Shelf submissions were advanced to the United Nations in July.
These milestones not only strengthen national sovereignty and resource management but also represent the Pacific’s growing influence in international ocean law.
“Boundaries are not just lines on a map. They are anchors for sustainable development, climate resilience, and food security,” he said.
“Certainty in these spaces gives confidence to investors and protects the livelihoods of our communities,” Minchin said.