Latest news with #KirstyNeedham
Japan Today
2 days ago
- Business
- Japan Today
Climate, gender in focus for World Bank in aid-reliant Pacific Islands
By Kirsty Needham The World Bank has maintained its focus on climate change and gender equality issues in the Pacific, managing director of operations Anna Bjerde said on a visit to Australia, even as its largest shareholder the United States reduces aid in those areas. After meeting Pacific Islands economic ministers in Fiji, Bjerde said countries in the region continued to worry about being exposed to the accelerating effects of climate change, and had grave concerns about food security and rising debt levels. Six Pacific Island countries are at high risk of debt distress, the bank says. The World Bank is moving a regional vice president from Washington to Singapore, and will move directors from Australia to Fiji and Papua New Guinea, to be closer to a $3.4 billion Pacific aid program that has grown seven-fold in 10-15 years, she said in an interview. "We are committed to designing projects that really take into account the vulnerabilities of countries we work in. In this part of the world, countries are vulnerable to the impact of climate change," she said. "We haven't really changed our language around that," she added. Pacific road projects designed to be flood-resilient provide better infrastructure that can withstand the changing climate and also be counted in climate finance programs, Bjerde said. The World Bank was focussed on boosting women's workforce participation to help lift the region's economic growth, she said, after meeting women leaders in Fiji who highlighted the need for childcare so women can work. On Monday, Bjerde also met officials from the Australian government, the largest bilateral donor to the region. Under reforms introduced last year by its president Ajay Banga, the World Bank has started to roll out region-wide programs to have a bigger impact among Pacific countries with small populations. Eight countries have joined an arrangement that stops small island states being cut off from the international financial system, while a health program targeting non-communicable disease will potentially reach 2 million people across the Pacific Ocean and train 16,000 health workers. A trade program is also being designed to give access to goods faster and more cheaply, she said. Banga will attend the region's annual leaders' meeting, the Pacific Islands Forum, for the first time in September. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Britain, Australia to deepen AUKUS commitment, economic ties
By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia and Britain's defence and foreign ministers arrived for talks in Sydney on Friday on boosting cooperation, including deepening the two countries commitment to the AUKUS nuclear submarine partnership. Britain's Foreign Minister David Lammy and Defence Secretary John Healey were met by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Sydney, where talks are expected to focus on boosting trade ties and progressing the AUKUS partnership for Britain and Australia to build a new class of nuclear-powered submarine. The United States is reviewing the trilateral agreement struck in 2021, and has pressed Australia to increase defence spending to counter China's military build-up in the Indo Pacific region. A new British-Australian treaty will underpin each country's submarine programmes and is expected to be worth up to 20 billion pounds ($27 billion) to Britain in exports over the next 25 years, Britain's Ministry of Defence said. "AUKUS is one of Britain's most important defence partnerships, strengthening global security while driving growth at home," British defence minister John Healey said in a statement. The treaty "confirms our AUKUS commitment for the next half century," he added. Following the Australia-United Kingdom Ministerial Consultations (AUKMIN), ministers are scheduled to travel to the northern garrison city of Darwin, where the British aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales has arrived for the Talisman Sabre war games. As many as 40,000 troops from 19 countries are taking part in the Talisman Sabre exercises held from July 13 to August 4, which Australia's military has said are a rehearsal of joint war fighting that contribute to stability in the Indo-Pacific. Britain has significantly increased its participation in the exercise co-hosted by Australia and the United States, with 3,000 troops taking part.
Yahoo
13-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Australia will not commit troops in advance to any conflict, minister says
By Kirsty Needham SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia will not commit troops in advance to any conflict, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said on Sunday, responding to a report that the Pentagon has pressed its ally to clarify what role it would play if the U.S. and China went to war over Taiwan. Australia prioritises its sovereignty and "we don't discuss hypotheticals", Conroy said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "The decision to commit Australian troops to a conflict will be made by the government of the day, not in advance but by the government of the day," he said. The Financial Times reported on Saturday that Elbridge Colby, the U.S. under-secretary of defence for policy, has been pressing Australian and Japanese officials on what they would do in a Taiwan conflict, although the U.S. does not offer a blank cheque guarantee to defend Taiwan. Colby posted on X that the Department of Defense is implementing President Donald Trump's "America First" agenda of restoring deterrence, which includes "urging allies to step up their defense spending and other efforts related to our collective defense". China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. Taiwan President Lai Ching-te rejects China's sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan's people can decide their future. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking in Shanghai at the start of a six-day visit to China that is likely to focus on security and trade, said Canberra did not want any change to the status quo on Taiwan. Conroy said Australia was concerned about China's military buildup of nuclear and conventional forces, and wants a balanced Indo-Pacific region where no country dominates. He said China was seeking a military base in the Pacific, which was not in Australia's interest. 'GOAL IS NO WAR' Talisman Sabre, Australia's largest war-fighting exercise with the United States, opened on Sunday on Sydney Harbour and will involve 40,000 troops from 19 countries, including Japan, South Korea, India, Britain, France and Canada. Conroy said China's navy might be watching the exercise to collect information, as it had done in the past. The war games will span thousands of kilometres from Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island to the Coral Sea on Australia's east coast, in a rehearsal of joint war fighting, said Vice Admiral Justin Jones, chief of joint operations for the Australian Defence Force. The air, sea, land and space exercises over two weeks will "test our ability to move our forces into the north of Australia and operate from Australia", Jones told reporters. "I will leave it to China to interpret what 19 friends, allies and partners wanting to operate together in the region means to them. But for me... it is nations that are in search of a common aspiration for peace, stability, a free and open Indo-Pacific," he said. U.S. Army Lieutenant General Joel Vowell, deputy commanding general for the Pacific, said Talisman Sabre would improve the readiness of militaries to respond together and was "a deterrent mechanism because our ultimate goal is no war". "If we could do all this alone and we could go fast, but because we want to go far, we have to do it together and that is important because of the instability that is resident in the region," Vowell said. The United States is Australia's major security ally. Although Australia does not permit foreign bases, the U.S. military is expanding its rotational presence and fuel stores on Australian bases, which from 2027 will have U.S. Virginia submarines at port in Western Australia. These would play a key role in supporting U.S. forces in any conflict over Taiwan, analysts say.
Hindustan Times
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Tiny Tuvalu seeks assurance from US its citizens won't be barred
By Kirsty Needham Tiny Tuvalu seeks assurance from US its citizens won't be barred SYDNEY -Tuvalu, a tiny Pacific nation that scientists predict will be submerged by rising seas, said it is seeking written assurance from the United States that its citizens will not be barred from entry after being apparently mistakenly included in a list of 36 countries facing visa bans. An internal diplomatic cable signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio showed the United States, which has already barred entry for citizens from 12 countries, was considering expanding travel restrictions to the 36 countries, including three Pacific Island states, Reuters and other media reported last month. Nations on the list would have 60 days to take corrective action, the cable showed. The news had caused significant concern in Tuvalu, whose population of 11,000 is at risk from rising sea levels, and where a third of residents have applied to an Australian ballot for a landmark climate migration visa. Tuvalu's ambassador to the United Nations, Tapugao Falefou, said he had been told by a U.S. official that Tuvalu's inclusion on the list was "an administrative and systemic error on the part of the U.S. Department of State". In a statement on Tuesday, Tuvalu's government said it had not received any formal notification that it was on the list, and had also been assured by the United States embassy in Fiji it was "an error within the system". "The Embassy has provided verbal assurances that there are no current restrictions on Tuvaluan nationals entering the United States, and that the matter is being reviewed with authorities in Washington," the statement from Tuvalu's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Labour and Trade said. It added Tuvalu was seeking a "formal written confirmation to that effect and continues to engage the U.S. Government to ensure Tuvaluans are not unfairly affected". The embassy did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. A U.S. official familiar with visa policy who is not authorized to speak publicly told Reuters "no decisions have been made, and any speculation is premature". "Tuvalu's public statement mischaracterizes and omits some of the valid concerns the United States has with travelers from that country," the official added. The other Pacific Islands listed in the cable were Vanuatu and Tonga. Tonga's government had received an official U.S. warning, and was working on a response, Tonga media reported. Vanuatu's government did not respond to a request for comment. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Japan Today
29-06-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
Over a third of people on sinking Tuvalu seek Australia's climate visas
By Kirsty Needham More than one-third of the people in the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu, which scientists predict will be submerged by rising seas, have applied for a landmark climate visa to migrate to Australia, according to official figures. Tuvalu's ambassador to the United Nations, Tapugao Falefou, told Reuters on Sunday he was "startled by the huge number of people vying for this opportunity", and the small community was interested to learn who the first lot of climate migrants would be. Tuvalu, one of the countries at greatest risk from climate change, which experts say is boosting sea levels, has a population of 11,000 on its nine atolls scattered across the Pacific between Australia and Hawaii. Since applications for Australia's visa lottery opened this month, 1,124 people have registered, with family members bringing the total seeking the visa to 4,052 under the bilateral climate and security treaty. Applications close on July 18, with an annual cap of 280 visas designed to ensure migration to Australia does not cause brain drain from Tuvalu, officials said when the treaty was announced in 2023. The visa will allow Tuvalu residents to live, work and study in Australia, accessing health benefits and education on the same basis as Australian citizens. "Moving to Australia under the Falepili Union treaty will in some way provide additional remittance to families staying back," Falefou said. By 2050, NASA scientists project daily tides will submerge half the main atoll of Funafuti, home to 60% of Tuvalu's residents, where villagers cling to a strip of land as narrow as 20 meters. That forecast assumes a 1-metre rise in sea levels, while the worst case, double that, would put 90% of Funafuti under water. Tuvalu, whose mean elevation is just 2 meters, has experienced a sea-level rise of 15 cm over the past three decades, one and a half times the global average. It has built 7 hectares of artificial land, and is planning more, which it hopes will stay above the tides until 2100. © Thomson Reuters 2025.
