PINA

The election of the Solomon Islands new Prime Minister is now underway at the National Parliament. The Governor General Sir David Vunagi is presiding over the election through secret ballot from the 50 elected Members of Parliament. The two candidates are Jeremiah Manele and Mathew Wale. Manele is the candidate for the Government for National Unity and Transformation while Wale is the...

The fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution, including in the marine environment (INC-4), concluded this week in Ottawa with an advanced draft text of the instrument and agreement on intersessional work ahead of the fifth session (INC-5) in November. More than 2,500 delegates participated in INC-4, representing 170 Members...

The re-elected Member of Solomon Islands Parliament for Kia-Hograno-Havulei, Jeremiah Manele and the re-elected MP for Aoke-Langalanga, Matthew Wale have emerged as contenders for the nation’s top political job. As of Tuesday, Manele’s camp has garnered the support of as many as 30 MPs in a new grouping known as the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation (CNUT), according insiders. He...

When UN climate chief Simon Stiell addressed climate and energy ministers from the G7 group of rich nations on Monday, he issued a frank message: “It is utter nonsense to claim the G7 cannot – or should not – lead the way on bolder climate actions”. He added those countries should be “leading from the front” through much deeper emissions...

The Coalition for Accountability, Reform and Empowerment (CARE), Solomon Islands United Party(SIUP) and Solomon Islands Party for Rural Advancement(SIPRA) has officially nominated former Opposition leader Matthew Cooper Wale as their candidate for Prime Minister. This decisive move counters widespread rumours of internal divisions. Matthew Wale was nominated by SIUP’s Peter Kenilorea Jr and Cathy Nori, SIPRA’s Gordon Darcy Lilo, and CARE’s...

In the final hours of the fourth round of negotiations on the revised zero draft of the global plastics treaty, Pacific delegates remain steadfast in their resolve to have a key regional aspiration on the sustainable production of primary plastic polymer to be included in the treaty text. The negotiations to develop an international legally binding instrument on plastic pollution,...

Fiji's Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sitiveni Rabuka and Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific, Pat Conroy MP met in Nadi on Tuesday, where they reaffirmed their two Governments’ commitment to further advance the bilateral relationship between Fiji and Australia, through their renewed and elevated Vuvale Partnership. During the meeting Prime Minister Rabuka and Minister Conroy...

The Albanese government expects China will remain undeterred from trying to duchess Pacific political leaders despite the pro-Beijing Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare relinquishing his grip on power. Canberra is privately relieved Sogavare has been ousted as prime minister and believes his designated successor, Foreign Minister Jeremiah Manele, is not overtly anti-Australian if he prevails to become PM. However,Sogavare will...

Fiji's Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Sitiveni Rabuka and the Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific, and Minister for Defence Industry, Pat Conroy signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) on Port infrastructure and Services and Cyber Security Cooperation. The MOUs were signed by the two Governments through our Vuvale Partnership. The Memorandum of Understanding on Port Infrastructure and...

The Pacific Regional Non-Governmental Organisations (PRNGOs) Alliance reaffirm its solidarity with the indigenous peoples of Kanaky New Caledonia to expose ongoing efforts by the French Government to deny their right to self-determination and derail a decolonisation process painstakingly pursued in this Pacific Island territory for the last 30 years. France, especially under the Macron Government, as the colonial power administering...