Pacific region

Department of Personnel Management Secretary Taies Sansan said this after attending the 16th Pacific Public Service Commissioners Conference in Wellington, New Zealand held from November 13-16, 2023.

Ms Sansan highlighted the importance of training public servants in the region to better deliver services to our people.

Under-Secretary-General of the UN and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, says ours is a region where climate change-induced disasters are becoming more frequent and intense. 

“Since 1970, two million people have lost their lives to disasters. Tragically, but all too predictably, the poorest in the least developed countries are worst affected. They will find themselves in the eye of the storm as temperatures rise, new disaster hotspots appear and existing risks increase. 

By contrast, Fiji and smaller Pacific Island nations in Polynesia and Micronesia have already achieved or are close to reaching key vaccination benchmarks, making it much easier for them to re-open to the outside world. 

The Lowy Institute has crunched health and population data to project when Pacific Island nations are likely to have vaccinated enough people to protect their populations from the worst impacts of COVID-19. 

Sarah Graham of Sydney University's United States Studies Centre said Donald Trump has oscillated a lot on the region during the American election campaign, now in its closing hours.

Dr Graham said if Mr Trump is elected he would need a strong team behind him to help build a vision for the region that governments could be comfortable with.

She said he has questioned the value of America's traditional alliances in the region, particularly Japan.

"He's talked about making allies pay their fair share or walking away.

The US Department of Commerce's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) has told all US vessels they are prohibited from fishing in the region from January 1 until new licences are issued.

Nearly 40 US vessels usually work in the region and are estimated to catch US$300-$400 million worth of tuna annually.

Mike Tosatto, Honolulu director of the NMFS confirmed Friday he had written to tuna fleet operators to get out of the water by New Year's Day if the agreement to pay was not honoured.