Australia has today announced a raft of assistance to Fiji to formally elevate and deepen the Vuvale Partnership.
Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Penny Wong states this follows Fiji Prime Minister Sitveni Rabuka’s visit to Australia.
As part of this next step in our Vuvale Partnership, Australia will support Fiji to implement key priorities that include:
- – funding two technical advisers to lead the implementation of Fiji’s new National Security Strategy
- – embedding Australian Federal Police officers in the Fiji Police Force to extend policing cooperation
- – providing $12 million (FJD 17.6 million) to strengthen border security by improving shipping container screening at Lautoka and Suva Ports; and
- – increasing Australia’s bilateral development assistance to Fiji by $40 million (FJD 56 million) over four years, taking the total to just under $500 million (FJD 734 million) from 2025 to 2029.
Senator Wong added as Fiji and Australia look to deepen Vuvale, Australia will also explore further cooperation across a range of areas that includes:
- – operationalising Ocean of Peace principles, including family first Pacific regionalism
- – delivering a modern, cyber-secure ICT Border Management System to support Fijians and visitors
- – enhancing cooperation on transnational crime, with a focus on responding to illicit drugs and opportunities for greater information sharing and surveillance efforts
- – strengthening policing capability through training and infrastructure
- – tackling HIV/AIDS, building on Australia’s $7.1 million (FJD 10.4 million) investment in Fiji’s health system
- – expanding maritime security, shipbuilding and maintenance through technical collaboration; and
- – growing economic opportunities through skills development and employment pathways.
“Fiji is a regional leader, and the economic hub of the Pacific. Our First Nations’ peoples share deep connections to land and sea. Australia and Fiji stand together because we share an ocean and we share a future,” said Senator Wong.
“A strengthened Vuvale Partnership will help us build a region defined by peace, unity and prosperity.”
