Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is speaking from the Pacific Islands Forum as the US pledges an increase in engagement and funding to the region.
Watch the media conference here:
US Vice President Kamala Harris told the Forum the US would will triple its funding for economic development and ocean resilience to $60 million a year for the next 10 years.
Speaking via video link, Harris acknowledged the Pacific had not received US diplomatic attention and support in recent years.
But she said the Forum must stand firm, and warned against bad actors trying to undermine the rules based order.
The United States today has responded to the requests of PIF member states - particularly Palau - on the South Pacific Tuna Treaty. Members have called for a long time for greater engagement from the US, and from New Zealand's perspective the US commitments today were useful, she said.
"Ultimately if you are responding to the Pacific Islands' priorities and they've very much said that is what they intend to do, climate change is number one on that agenda."
It was a given that those countries wanting to work alongside the Pacific will need to be working on climate change issues, Ardern said.
On Tuesday the New Zealand government said it was putting $10m of its $1.3 billion climate aid fund towards conserving Pacific crop seeds and researching climate-resilient varieties.
Policing and security
Ardern discussed the role of New Zealand policing capability with the prime ministers of Solomon Islands and Fiji at the Pacific Islands Forum.
Ardern said she stressed to Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare the importance of the relationship between the two countries.
"We discussed within that the role that New Zealand police have played for a long time around capability and capacity building and a community-based policing approach."
They discussed intentions to continue and extend that work, and also spoke about security matters in the region, she said.
Sogavare agreed with New Zealand's position of avoiding the militarisation of the region.
"His expression was that is was not in the Pacific family or indeed the Solomon Islands interests to see the militarisation of our regions, so there is common ground there for us, and I believe there is common ground amongst Pacific Islands Forum members on this matter as well.
"When we have that common ground, we can build on it," Ardern said.
She said one thing she reiterated to Sogavare was it would be good to have greater transparency over the agreement the Solomon Islands reached with China.
"We don't have that text publicly available but to convey very strongly New Zealand's views but to find that common ground and that is that shared view on the militarisation of our region - that is at least an area where we can see there is some foundation to that conversation now. There's some agreement around what we believe would be very unhelpful for our region, deeply concerning and take us backwards."
Ardern referred to Sogavare's previous comments that the publication of the China deal depends on an agreement between both parties.
Australia and New Zealand had had engagement with the Solomons for years, Ardern said, and had previously responded to security concerns there.
"I simply reiterated to the prime minister should those needs arise in the future we are already there, we are there to support you, if there are issues you believe we are not meeting that have led you to call upon others then tell us."
She also spoke to Fiji Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama, who is also chairing the forum this year.
Ardern said she had the opportunity to sign the Suva agreement which goes some way towards resolving some of the differences between Micronesian PIF members that led to some to pull out of the forum.
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta said New Zealand had agreed to extend the existing policing arrangements with Solomon Islands for two years, and also provide about $8.5m to help the police undertake their existing work in the Solomons.
It was an extension of New Zealand's community policing approach, she said.
Labour issues
Ardern said one of the conversations she had been having with Pacific neighbours was around skill and the role of the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme, particularly as the region recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic.
"The skills shortage that New Zealand has experienced is being experienced by the Pacific region."
Fiji had seen a rapid increase in tourist numbers and was concerned about the loss of tourism skills to countries like New Zealand and Australia "which is why we need to work closely together", she said.
Ardern said Samoa Prime Minister Fiamē Naomi Mataʻafa raised that directly in discussions with Bainimarama.
"I reflect on Prime Minister Fiamē's comments. RSE was originally designed to also address perhaps unemployment and create opportunities for those who may not have work opportunities within country. Let's make sure that the schemes are still operating that way.
"We're all just moving back to the normalisation and trying to get a sense of how to sustain our economies."
Gender inequality and LGBTQI+ communities
Ardern said it was important to mark the progress Pacific Islands were making on gender equality for women, but also acknowledged there was a lot of work to do amongst the LGBTQI+ communities.
But she said that until New Zealand had eradicated gender inequality it was difficult to tell anyone else what they needed to do.
"I'll stand alongside but I think we need to get our own house in order as well.
"That means making sure that we remove the barriers for women to enter into politics, it means addressing those barriers to women being able to make the choices and determine their own futures and that includes making sure that we have financial and economic independence for our women. And it means addressing gender based violence which is an extraordinary barrier to participation in our society.
"Until we each demonstrate that we've made progress on those then we will each have work to do."
