Pacific’s largest security gathering reinforces importance of regional community to meet the challenges ahead
Delegates on Day 3 of the 2026 Pacific Peace and Security Dialogue. Photo: Pacific Security College
Strong calls for deeper regional cooperation emerged from the 2026 Pacific Peace and Security Dialogue this week, reinforcing the vital role of collective leadership and shared values in navigating the region’s changing security landscape.
More than 250 delegates gathered in Suva for the largest gathering of the Pacific security community. The Dialogue brought together Ministers and senior national and regional officials alongside a diverse range of voices, including community and church leaders, youth advocates, academics, and civil society representatives.
Guided by the theme ‘Safeguarding a peaceful Blue Pacific together’, the conversations focused on how Forum members can work collectively to build a safe and secure region, and realise the vision for an Ocean of Peace.
One of the Dialogue organisers, Professor Dave Peebles, Director of the Pacific Security College, said discussions during the three-day Dialogue consistently highlighted cooperation across sectors and countries as an essential pathway to addressing the region’s complex, overlapping challenges.
“Bringing together people with diverse experiences and perspectives is one of the greatest strengths of this Dialogue; creating space for voices that have not always been part of traditional security conversations but offer critical insight and knowledge,” he said.
“In a time of increasing uncertainty, we all face a choice between greater fragmentation or greater community and cooperation. The Dialogue highlighted that strong regional cooperation – grounded in shared commitments like the Blue Pacific Ocean of Peace Declaration – is vital to securing a resilient and prosperous future.”
Panel discussions were informed by the Pacific’s expanded concept of security as set out in the Boe Declaration on Regional Security.
Sessions covered economic security, especially rising cost of living and impacts of the global fuel crisis; the rapid growth of digital technologies, noting both their benefits and emerging cybersecurity and safety challenges; combating transnational crime through coordinated regional, national, and community-level responses; and energy transition, considering climate change impacts, reliance on fossil fuels, and ongoing global supply challenges.
Other panels explored regional cooperation, including drawing on the perspectives of representatives from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and ASEAN; drivers of mobility in the region; and the central role of land as a foundation of peace, security and identity. A group of a young Pacific leaders and advocates discussed what was required to realise the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.
On the final day of the Dialogue, delegates participated in a Futures Day at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat, engaging in interactive exercises to chart the journey to realise the vision established in the 2050 Strategy for a Blue Pacific Continent.
Acting Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Esala Nayasi, speaks at the closing of the 2026 Pacific Peace and Security Dialogue. Photo: Pacific Security College
Speaking at the closing ceremony, Acting Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum, Esala Nayasi, emphasised the importance of trust, shared responsibility, and making decisions with future generations in mind.
“We need regional capacity that holds when the storm is long, and we must design for the smallest amongst us, pulling our strength as our ancestors did, so that the smallest islands among us never face the storm alone,” he said.
“Security in the Pacific lives in the trust between our peoples. It is found in the strength of our relationships, in the in the resilience of our cultures, in the faith that sustains us, in the communities that carry us, and in the Pacific way that binds us together.
“For us, security is also found in belonging, in service, and in our shared responsibility towards one another. And these values are the foundations upon which our resilience, our peace and our future are built.”
The 2026 Pacific Peace and Security Dialogue was presented by 13 partner organisations: the Forum Fisheries Agency, Joint Heads of Pacific Security, Melanesian Spearhead Group, Oceania Customs Organisation, Pacific Community, Pacific Fusion Centre, Pacific Immigration Development Community, Pacific Islands Chiefs of Police, Pacific Islands Forum, Pacific Islands Law Officers’ Network, Pacific Security College, the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, and the University of the South Pacific.
