Opening address, 2025 Pacific Regional and National Security Conference, Honourable Prime Minister of Fiji, Sitiveni Rabuka

Salutations:

My brother leader, Prime Minister of Niue, the Honourable Dalton Tagelagi
Ministers from across our great Blue Pacific
Pacific Islands Forum Secretary General Baron Waqa
Fellow members of the Pacific Islands Forum, represented here by Heads of Mission and Senior Officials
Heads of CROP agencies and representatives of our regional security organisations
Sisters and brothers from the Pacific security community
Academics and civil society representatives

Ni sa bula vinaka!

A very warm “welcome back” to everyone from the Pacific security community and beyond, gathered here in Suva for this second Pacific Regional and National Security Conference!

A peaceful and prosperous Pacific depends on all of us cooperating and learning from each other.

This is why I am so pleased you have gathered, in a spirit of friendship and shared purpose, to focus this year on the Ocean of Peace concept and to take it further in your discussions.

The timing is critical. For I must unfortunately contest that, for now, the region’s outlook is more uncertain than at any time since Fiji’s independence.

I believe on Wednesday you will conduct a futures exercise, to consider how we can navigate the decades ahead, so the Pacific is an Ocean of Peace by 2050.

What is the end state we would like to see?
What are the urgent actions we need to take now to realise this future?
How can we best prepare for the voyage ahead?
What are the conditions we must face together?

These are the great questions before us, if we are to ensure the Pacific is peaceful and prosperous by 2050. We are responsible, today, for the world our children and grandchildren will inherit.

The Pacific Ocean, and Fiji’s place in it

But first to go back, to over five centuries ago…On 15 November 1520, long after the first Pacific islanders had reached this ocean, Ferdinand Magellan sailed into the Mar del Sur and renamed it Mar Pacifico – the Pacific Ocean – because of its calm waters.

Those waters have sustained and linked generations of Pacific people.

However, the waters of the Pacific are not always calm.

This ocean has been a theatre for external wars, it has been treated as a testing ground for the most dangerous weapons, it has swollen because of climate change, and its rich resources are coveted by many.

This is the current reality of the Blue Pacific.

Fiji’s Foreign Policy White Paper in 2024 assessed that Fiji’s most significant security threat lies in the prospect of a wider region which is riven by division, insecurity and instability.

We decided the most significant contribution Fiji can make to a state of strategic equilibrium, to a stable balance in the broader Indo-Pacific is to focus on the challenge of peace and security in our own Pacific neighbourhood.

I feel a particular responsibility as the Prime Minister of Fiji.

First, of course, for the sovereignty, security and prosperity of Fiji. But also, for the contribution we can make to the region.

We take that regional role seriously.

So I am also greatly concerned about the polycrisis before the Blue Pacific, which I talked about at last year’s Conference.

The global rules-based international order is eroding.

There is growing economic uncertainty throughout the world, and that is felt keenly in our geographically dispersed Pacific states.

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.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing undermines our economic security and harms our fragile Pacific environment.

And unfortunately, transnational criminals now crisscross our Pacific waters. The surge in methamphetamine trafficking and use strains law enforcement and is fuelling a growing public health crisis.

Human security, and the need to lift up our women and children, is an ongoing endeavour.

We also face new challenges – for example Fiji, as a financial and administrative hub of the region, is increasingly becoming a target for cybercrimes. We must be awake to the rapid acceleration of digital technologies and evolving threats.

The Ocean of Peace

That brings me to what we can do as a Pacific family.

I have always believed in a Pacific approach to security, stability and prosperity.

We are stronger when we face our challenges together.

So, at the Pacific Islands Forum in Rarotonga in 2023 I proposed that regional leaders agree on a set of principles that embed peace as the cornerstone of our individual and collective policies.

This is the Ocean of Peace concept.

The Ocean of Peace is a shared aspiration, rooted in our traditions and guided by a collective commitment to regional cooperation and stability. It reaffirms our commitment to ensuring our people can lead free, healthy and productive lives.

The Ocean of Peace is a signal that we seek a region in which strategic competition is managed; where stability is the touchstone of regional relationships; and where coercion is eschewed.

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.

The Ocean of Peace also calls for us to remain committed to development, because lasting peace across our countries requires both national security and national development.

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.

The Ocean of Peace Principles

To achieve this, the Ocean of Peace concept draws on foundational tenets of Pacific regionalism. It is our opportunity to weave the threads of our Pacific past with our vision for our Pacific future.

While much work is ongoing, Fiji promotes the Pacific as the Ocean of Peace based on the following twelve principles:

A shared commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes based on the Pacific Way.
Respect for international law and norms. We recall the United Nations’ General Assembly Declaration on the Rights of People to Peace, that was adopted on 12 November 1984.
Rejection of coercion as a means to achieve security, economic or political advantage.
The freedom to determine our own security and strategic policies.
Upholding freedom of navigation and overflight.
A commitment to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Protecting the maritime environment.
A recognition that common challenges require common solutions.
Respect for human rights.
Support for regional institutions.
Calling on external actors to champion rules of responsible, peaceful, deconflicting behaviour.
Bringing our people together.

These principles are based on the Pacific Way. The Pacific Way is about these principles as a deed.

They also offer an opportunity for us to set out how we expect those from outside the region to respect our approaches and participate with us. This means respect for the Pacific way. Respect for norms and law. No coercion. Protecting the environment. Respect for and embrace Pacific regionalism.

I also believe, through the Ocean of Peace there are opportunities to share Pacific Way successes with the world.

For example, Fiji pioneered the Talanoa Dialogue as a new approach to climate negotiations, with the Pacific concept of ‘Talanoa’, or storytelling, supporting consensus building and decision making.

And it was in 1970, that Fiji’s first Prime Minister, Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara, introduced “the Pacific Way” at the United Nations General Assembly, setting out Fiji’s peaceful transition to independence.

So too can the Ocean of Peace offer a platform to expand concepts central to the Pacific Way with a global audience.

As we speak, officials across the Pacific are working to prepare the Ocean of Peace Declaration for when Prime Minister Tagelagi and I meet with our fellow leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting in Solomon Islands in September.

I know Minister Shanel, and Prime Minister Manele, will host us very well in the Hapi Isles!

From principles to implementation

Esteemed Participants, this is my request of you for this Conference.

Realising the Ocean of Peace isn’t just a job for our leaders.

It is a shared endeavour involving all of us.

We must work together to safeguard our Blue Pacific, our Ocean of Peace, for this generation and those to come.

My hope is that together, as a Pacific family, we can agree in Honiara on the principles for the Ocean of Peace Declaration.

But then the work falls on all of us for implementation.

Some of the issues you might want to discuss at this Conference include:

How can the “good offices” role of the Forum Secretary General be strengthened to support peace, particularly if there is an issue that threatens the Pacific as an Ocean of Peace?
How should Forum member countries consult if they are worried about an issue?
What does the Ocean of Peace mean for our regional architecture? And for the review of the Boe Declaration Action Plan?
How can our law enforcement agencies and defence forces and regional agencies and secretariats contribute to the Ocean of Peace?
How can the next generation of national security agreements reflect the Ocean of Peace?
What can we all do in our countries and our communities to promote peace?

We will look forward to your advice!

A great voyage ahead

Esteemed Delegates, Asia has the Shangri-La Dialogue.

But the Pacific has the Pacific Regional and National Security Conference!

This is where we will build our mighty drua, or waka, for the great journey ahead.

The Pacific security community is always welcome here in Fiji. We will be very pleased to have you back in Suva for your important discussions next year. You will be made to feel very welcome!

My best wishes to each of you for a successful Conference.

Enjoy the warm hospitality of Fiji.

May God bless Fiji and may God bless the Pacific.

Vinaka vakalevu, thank you.