The United States of America’s President Joe Biden kept his end of a bargain he made with Pacific leaders during the U.S. Pacific Islands Summit in 2022.

Biden pledged the US’s support to help Pacific Island countries achieve the development goals set out in the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.

The opening of the USAIDS mission’s new Pacific Islands Mission office in Suva is a physical demonstration of this promise.

USAID Administrator Samantha Power says this is part of the US government’s commitment and aims to deepen its relationship with Pacific Island countries.

[USAID Administrator Samantha Power]

“I want to be very clear, and this is subject to some misunderstanding, so please, I hope I am very clear, that the United States is not attempting to force nations to choose between partnering with the United States and partnering with other nations to meet their development goals. That said, we do want you to have a choice. It’s not a choice that we will make for you, but we want you to have options. We want Pacific Island nations to have more options to work with partners whose values and vision for the future align with your own.”

USAID’s mission also aims to improve climate resilience, economic stability, and health care challenges.

The new mission will look after nine Pacific Islands countries, including Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau.