Director Policy Paki Ormsby.

Recent regional divisions in the region will not have a permanent effect on cooperation that aims to address transnational crimes.

This is the assurance from the Pacific Islands Forum.

Director Policy Paki Ormsby says the Pacific has been recently disagreeing on many issues but none big enough to halt regional cooperation dialogue and engagement.

“Those issues are important I think, those ones that are being raised recently and they have been addressed recently and wider discussions but at the same time issues around policies remain very very secure around our region.”

Ormsby says although there is no single regional defence security event, the issue has always been on the agenda of all PIF meetings.

“So it’s quite an interesting and broad landscape of meetings that touch on security, sometimes directly and sometimes indirectly but they’re all part of our regional approach to security and the way our region sees security.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult to assess the regional economic loss from transnational crime.