Australia is to beef up relationships with its Pacific neighbours, adopting new levels of security, economic, diplomatic and people-to-people activities.
Announced by the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, the plan will be aimed at providing outcomes for a secure and prosperous Pacific region.
“Australia has a long history of cooperation with our Pacific neighbours,” Mr Morrison said.
“We want to work with our Pacific Island partners to build a Pacific region that is secure strategically, stable economically and sovereign politically.”
He said a new Pacific faculty would be created at the Australian Institute of Police Management to train the next generation of police leadership in the Pacific and an annual Joint-Heads of Pacific Security Forces event would be held in Australia after consultation with Pacific countries.
“An alumni network of emerging and senior police, civilian, and military leaders would also be created to build stronger ties,” Mr Morrison said.
He said a $2 billion Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility would be set up for the Pacific while at the same time an extra $1 billion in callable capital would be available through Australia’s export financing agency, Efic.
Mr Morrison said Australia would also expand its diplomatic footprint to ensure it had a presence in every member country of the Pacific Islands Forum.
“We will (also) work with our commercial media operators to ensure the Pacific can connect to quality Australian media content,” he said.
“These new initiatives will ensure Australia’s relationships with our Pacific friends continue to grow from strength to strength,” Mr Morrison said.
