Regional Archive May 2013

PFF | Rarotonga - Failing to intervene in a minor assault on reporters and smashing the phone of a young boy shows police in Samoa need training in freedoms enjoyed by all citizens, says the Pacific Freedom Forum.

Press Statement - 28 May 2013 - The Government of Vanuatu will be able to access US$4,000,000 from the Pacific Environment Community (PEC) Fund to set up a solar powered desalination plant in East Ambae on the Penama Province and Aniwa in the Tafea Province of Vanuatu.

A survey of the South Tarawa lagoon has revealed some potentially explosive secrets from its past as a major battleground of World War II. The survey was designed to identify battle debris that still litters the floor of the lagoon seventy years after the infamous Battle of Tarawa in 1943.

SPC, through the European Union-funded Increasing Agricultural Commodity Trade (IACT) Project, has been working with seaweed farming communities in the Pacific to identify new export markets for their products.

PFF | Rarotonga | Cook Islands - Charges of terrorism laid and dropped against a journalist in Vanuatu over a Facebook comment need independent investigation, states the Pacific Freedom Forum.

PRESS STATEMENT - 08th May 2013 - The Independent State of Samoa has achieved a significant milestone by becoming the first Forum Island Country to ratify the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) Trade in Services (TIS) Protocol.