NZ bids to host Pacific Islands Forum amid tensions over exclusion of dialogue partners

Foreign Affairs Minister Vaovasamanaia Winston Peters says it’s time for New Zealand to take a leading role again in the region as he announced a bid for Aotearoa to host the 2027 Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting (PIFLM).

Speaking to the media in Suva following the Forum Foreign Ministers Meeting (PIFFMM), Peters says the bid shows New Zealand’s intention to be a “partner of choice” in thePacific.

“It was 2011 since we last did it, and so it's time we stepped up,” Peters says.

“We've got the capacity to do it, and really, hopefully, we'll have demonstrated what a partner of choice we could be in the Pacific.

“We've got some exciting things coming. You'll have to watch and wait for next year, but we think we've got some exciting things.”

Peters’ trip to Fiji coincided with a growing dispute over the Solomon Islands’ decision to exclude 21 dialogue partners, including the United States and China, from this year’s Leaders Meeting in Honiara.

Listen to Winston Peters' full interview below.

He admitted that the Suva summit was more intense than in previous years and warned that excluding these partners risks sending the wrong message at a time when Pacific nations “desperately need” development assistance.

Solomon Islands Foreign Affairs Minister, Peter Shanel Agovaka, defended his government’s decision to limit in-person attendance, saying he is confident that his nation can survive without external funding.

He denied the influence of outside countries in their decision-making and criticised the PIF Secretariat for not fulfilling its commitments made during last year’s leaders’ summit in Tonga.

Solomon Islands Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Shanel Agovaka. Photo/Supplied

“Our focus is not on China or Taiwan,” Agovaka says.

“Our focus is on the region, the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders' Meeting, and we stuck to the communique that has been the outcome of the Tonga meeting.

“So that is the communiquē that we based our decision on.”

Foreign Affairs Ministers gathered in Suva this week for the annual PIF Foreign Ministers Meeting. Photo/PMN News/Ala Vailala

Peters offers a different perspective, saying that this year’s exclusion of partners due to external influences is more concerning than the Micronesian split of 2021.

“Here we've got now one, not of our internal making, but of external influences, and we've made it very clear in our address what New Zealand thinks.”