• Australia, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States have launched the Partners in the Blue Pacific (PBP). It is an informal group aimed at boosting economic and diplomatic ties with Pacific island nations.

• It is an inclusive, informal mechanism to support Pacific priorities more effectively and efficiently.

• The Pacific Islands region is home to nearly a fifth of the Earth’s surface and many of its most urgent challenges, from the climate crisis to the COVID-19 pandemic to growing pressure on the rules-based free and open international order. 

• The Biden administration has vowed to commit more resources to the Indo-Pacific as China seeks to boost economic, military and police links with Pacific island nations hungry for foreign investment.

The PBP aims to: 

i) Deliver results for the Pacific more effectively and efficiently: Together and individually, the five countries will enhance existing efforts to support Pacific priorities, in line with the Pacific Islands Forum’s upcoming 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent. To do so, these nations will work with Pacific partners. The leaders will map existing projects and plan future ones, seeking to drive resources, remove duplication, and close gaps, which will avoid greater burdens and lost opportunities for Pacific governments and Pacific people. In parallel, each government will continue to increase the ambition of individual efforts in the region.

ii) Bolster Pacific regionalism: The PBP will forge closer connections with Pacific governments and with the Pacific Islands Forum, by facilitating stronger and more regular engagement with our governments. It will further elevate Pacific regionalism, with a strong and united Pacific Islands Forum at its center, as a vital pillar of the regional architecture and of our respective approaches in the region.

iii) Expand opportunities for cooperation between the Pacific and the world: The PBP will encourage and facilitate greater engagement with the Pacific by any other partner that shares the Pacific’s values and aims to work constructively and transparently to benefit the people of the region. As it develops, the PBP will remain inclusive, informal, and open to cooperating with additional partners similarly invested in and committed to partnership with the Pacific Islands. Globally, the PBP will identify opportunities to expand Pacific participation in international fora.

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