Riya Mala 
Pacific regionalism is the only solution that can effectively address the issues affecting the Pacific region as a whole.
This was emphasized by Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka while officiating at the Second Pacific Regional and National Security Conference this morning.
He expressed concern about the polycrisis facing the Blue Pacific, which is impacting the global rules-based international order.
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka
Rabuka says this includes rising economic uncertainty around the world, the effects of climate change, and illegal fishing that hurts our economy and damages the Pacific’s fragile environment.
He also adds that criminals are moving across our waters, and the Pacific is being used as a place for external conflicts and even for testing dangerous weapons.
He says that these issues can be solved by strengthening the Pacific way of addressing problems through a Pacific approach to security, stability, and prosperity.
“Peace is not something achieved through our police or security forces alone. It also requires families and communities, societies and nations that are built on the foundations of harmony, stability, satisfaction with life, and freedom from want and fear.”
Rabuka says that the country’s 2024 Foreign Policy White Paper found the biggest danger is the region becoming divided, unsafe, and unstable.
He adds that this is why they have decided to help create a stable balance in the wider Indo-Pacific by focusing on peace and security in the Pacific region.
Rabuka urges the leaders attending the three-day conference to work together to protect the Blue Pacific for this generation and future ones.
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