Australia and Vanuatu agree to $328m security and business deal
Australia and Vanuatu agreed to a decade of a ten -year agreement aimed at strengthening security and economic ties worth $ 500 million ($ 328 million; $ 241 million).
In a statement on Wednesday, the so -called Nakamal Agreement – the result of months of negotiations – Australia’s relationship with the Pacific neighbor, he said.
“We are a family,” said Australian Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles: “Our future is very dependent on each other,” he said. Jotham Napat, the leader of Vanuatu, described the agreement as the “win-win situation” for both countries.
The agreement, which will be officially signed in September, comes while trying to increase the impact of the Australian region and to resist China’s increasing expenditures and power.
Although the Australian government does not provide any more information about the agreement, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) said that the capital Port Vila and Vanuatu will provide funds to build two large data centers in Santo, the largest island of Vanuatu.
Millions of people, low islands, will help to cope with the effects of climate change and increase their safety.
In the previous stages of the negotiations, a visa -free travel for Vanuatu citizens was also discussed and accepted as an important part of the agreement. However, Napat said to the media on Wednesday, said that this problem would be handled in a “subsidiary organization” agreement and will be approved yet.
Vanuatu’s commitments to Australia as a part of the agreement is unclear what the commitments are.
According to ABC, Vanuatu’s previous prime minister with security concerns at the last minute with a similar agreement in 2022 fell.
At a press conference next to a volcano on Tanna Island, one of the 80 plus in Vanuatu archipelago, Marles stressed the “common fate” of the two countries.
“[The deal] As a neighbor, he acknowledges that we have a common security environment and commitment to each other. ”
Australian Foreign Minister, the agreement is related to the long -term future, he added.
“The most important thing [about the deal] The place where we will be [in] Three and five and ten years, Peny Penny Wong said.
Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Napat, the agreement “mobile labor mobility and financial support focus on the security agreement, economic transformation, whether the two countries will provide many great benefits,” he said.
This week’s Vanuatu agreement comes after Australia has signed similar agreements with other Pacific neighbors in recent months.
Last December, Canberra made a new security agreement with the Solomon Islands of 190 million dollars and made similar agreements with Tuva Sex and Papua New Guinea.
