Pacific Leaders unite to chart path toward Ocean of Peace  

Pacific leaders today issued a powerful call for unity, regional solidarity, and decisive action at the opening of the second Pacific Regional and National Security Conference in Suva. 

The conference, convened by the Pacific Security College, brings together leaders, senior officials, law enforcement, academics, and civil society representatives to shape a Pacific-led response to emerging security challenges across the Blue Pacific Continent. 

Delivering the keynote address, Prime Minister the Hon Sitiveni Rabuka warned, “The region’s outlook is more uncertain than at any time since Fiji’s independence.” 

From rising sea levels and cybercrime to economic instability and the Pacific’s worsening methamphetamine crisis, Prime Minister Rabuka said the region was confronting a “polycrisis” that demanded regional vigilance and long-term vision. 

“The impacts of climate change, rising sea levels, increasingly severe extreme weather events, and changing ecosystems threaten our ways of life and our very existence in the Blue Pacific,” he said. 

At the heart of his message was the Ocean of Peace Declaration, a regional initiative he proposed in 2023 and which leaders are expected to endorse at the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Solomon Islands. 

“The Ocean of Peace is a shared aspiration, rooted in our traditions and guided by a collective commitment to regional cooperation and stability,” Prime Minister Rabuka said. “The Ocean of Peace reflects my belief that a united region is a strong region: that when we speak with one voice, our power is magnified.” 

Forum Secretary-General Baron Waqa said the declaration builds on the region’s long-held values. “It is more than a statement. It is a pledge to lead with peace. To embed it across our institutions, invest in conflict prevention, and protect our people and our environment.” 

He added, “The Ocean of Peace Declaration offers us a principled foundation, anchored in sovereignty, resilience, inclusion, and regional solidarity.” 

SG Waqa stressed that the conference “helps us build security solutions that are coherent, inclusive, and grounded in the Pacific Way.” 

Both leaders reaffirmed the importance of the Boe Declaration on Regional Security, adopted in 2018, which broadens the definition of security to include human rights, humanitarian assistance, and environmental resilience. “We must continue to evolve, responding to new challenges with resilience, confidence and foresight,” Mr Waqa said. 

Prime Minister Rabuka called for greater cooperation: “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.” 

Looking ahead, both speakers urged that the work of building regional security be closely aligned with the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, a long-term framework to safeguard the region’s people, place, and prosperity. 

“Let us move forward together to shape a peaceful, secure, and resilient Blue Pacific for generations to come,” Mr Waqa concluded. 

The Ocean of Peace Declaration will be tabled at the upcoming Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Solomon Islands later this year.

About the Pacific Regional and National Security Conference 

Set against the backdrop of the Boe Declaration on Regional Security and the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, the Pacific Regional National Security Conference (PRNSC) is one of the region’s largest gatherings of the national security community from across Forum Island Countries. Presented by 11 organisations, including the Pacific Security College, the conference provides expert updates and insights on key security issues outlined in the Boe Declaration including climate change, human security, transnational crime and cybercrime.