A day after a strategic setback in the Pacific, the federal government has received a major boost, with talks under way for an improved security agreement between Australia and Fiji.
While the two countries already have formal economic and security ties, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed today that work has begun to take the relationship “to the next level”.
“Preliminary discussions have been about increased security agreements or an upgrade in our security relationship,” he said on the sidelines of the Pacific Islands Forum in the Solomon Islands today.
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“That could range from increased interoperability, the sort of training we are seeing with the policing initiative being expanded to increase engagement between our defence forces.”
The development comes just a day after Albanese was expected to sign a bilateral agreement with Vanuatu, only for that $500 million deal to stall over concerns from Port Vila that it would prevent the Pacific nation from getting critical infrastructure funding from China.
Albanese and Vanuatu counterpart Jotham Napat both said yesterday that they remained confident the agreement would still be signed.
Beijing has been seeking to gain a security foothold in the South Pacific in recent years, including by signing an agreement with the Solomon Islands in 2022 that raised concerns about a possible People’s Liberation Army Navy base in one of Australia’s closest neighbours.
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Today, Albanese announced Australia would invest $100 million in the Pacific Resilience Facility – a fund to help nations in the region mitigate and respond to climate change and the natural disasters it causes.
“This is more than a fund, it’s a promise to Pacific communities they will not face climate threats alone,” he said.
Albanese said he wouldn’t pre-empt the discussions the government is having with Fiji, but said Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka was a “good friend of Australia”.
He also flagged a further announcement with Papua New Guinea would be made next week.
“Certainly the relationship with Fiji is an important one, Fiji has a very significant position in the Pacific,” Albanese said.
“We’ll have more to say about the relationship with Papua New Guinea next week, which is, of course, a very important one.”
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