Fiji - PM in Australia
Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka is in Australia this week.
The Australian government said Rabuka and PM Anthony Albanese will renew and elevate the Fiji-Australia Vuvale Partnership, which has set out the shared principles and priorities of their relationship since 2019.
Climate change was also on the agenda.
The prime ministers last met in Nadi in March where they held bilateral talks at the Blackrock Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Relief Camp.
Rabuka is in Australia from October 16-21.
Bougainville - water desalination
The government of Papua New Guinea's Bougainville autonomous region has put US$5.89 million towards desalination plants.
The Post Courier reported the plants, for five islands in the region's atolls, are expected to be completed over a seven-month period.
Bougainville chief secretary Saddrach Himata, who is from Mortlock Island, said having clean water on these islands "is a very big challenge for most of these islanders".
The managing director of contractor DNF Engineering Daren Mamoi said the desalination plants could produce over 3000 litres per day for the respective island communities.
The plants will be imported from Australia.
Solomon Islands - bank account barriers
Solomon Islands opposition leader Matthew Wale says the ability of ordinary citizens to open a bank account in the country is "a mountain to climb".
Wale said the government must make it easier for people to access financial services.
He raised the issue while in Parliament on Monday while contributing to the debate on the Central Bank of Solomon Islands (Amendment) Bill 2023.
Wale said the process of applying for a bank account has become an obstacle for many Solomon Islanders.
Samoa/American Samoa - office
A groundbreaking ceremony has been held in Moataa, Samoa, ahead of the build of the American Samoa government office.
The Samoan Government newspaper Savali reported the site is behind the village's primary school building and across from the Taumeasina Island Resort.
Samoa Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa said despite American Samoa and Samoa being two separate governments, it does not remove the connection founded by ancestors who have passed on.
Speaking of the 4th Atoa o Samoa meeting that Samoa is hosting, she said it has a huge contribution in guiding them into the future, especially in responding to challenges affecting the small island nations.
Fiame also thanked the American Samoa government for the land given to them in Tafuna, which will be the location of the Government of Samoa's office.
French Polynesia - US navy commanders meeting
US Navy's Seventh fleet commander vice admiral Karl Owen Thomas was in French Polynesia for three days earlier this month (October 3-6) as part of high-level talks with Tahiti-based Commodore Geoffroy d'Andigné, commander of French Armed Forces in the Asia-Pacific and French Polynesia.
The meeting with the Yokosuka (Japan)-based US 7th fleet top brass delegation was said to have focused on military humanitarian aid in the Pacific region under the lines of "inter-operability" and coordination, particularly following natural disasters affecting Pacific Island States, the French Navy pointed out in a release.
In terms of assistance to the Pacific region, French, Australian and New Zealand armies are also following the same principles of a coordinated command under a so-called "FRANZ" pact that was signed in 1992.
In recent months, as part of a re-engagement policy aimed at reinforcing its presence in the Pacific, the US government has indicated it wants its Coastguards to be de facto joining the FRANZ tripartite pact.
This was reiterated in September by President Biden at the White House-hosted US-Pacific summit.
US Navy’s Seventh fleet commander, vice admiral Karl Owen Thomas, left, and Commodore Geoffroy d’Andigné, commander of French Armed Forces in the Asia-Pacific, right, and French Polynesia, earlier this month in Tahiti. Photo: French Navy
Northern Marianas - discarded PPEs
A Saipan lawmaker says he has found millions of dollars' worth of dumped personal protective equipment (PPE).
Representative Edwin Propst said he found boxes and boxes of unused PPE in the southern part of Saipan.
He claims the equipment was thrown away to avoid paying the monthly $35,000 fee to store it in a warehouse.
Propst said federal agencies should investigate.
