Cook Islands have used close to their entire 2023/24 financial year travel budget. Photo: Cook Islands government
Cook Islands - budget
Politicians in the Cook Islands have used close to their entire 2023/24 financial year travel budget in the space of three months.
Cook Islands News revealed $246,000 of the quarter million budget was spent from 1 July to 30 September of this year.
Topping that list was a $30,000 trip for Prime Minister Mark Brown to attend an International Seabed Authority meeting in Kingston, Jamaica between 21-29 July.
A breakdown on the cost shows over $21,000 was spent on airfares alone.
Samoa - airways
The Minister of Public Enterprises and Samoa Airways Leatinu'u Wayne So'oialo has revealed that talks on a possible codeshare agreement between Samoa Airways and Fiji Airways have started.
He told EFKS-TV2 that Samoa Airways is also in negotiations with an unnamed international airline on a similar arrangement.
The plan would see Samoa Airways buying seats on another airline and reselling them as Samoa Airways seats.
He ruled out any chance of the national airline acquiring a new plane, saying they are considering all the pros and cons of getting into partnerships with international airlines.
NZ/Pacific - project
The New Zealand government has given NZ$20.6 million dollars to the Pacific Regional Invasive Species Management Support Service to help the Restoring Island Resilience Project.
The Support Service, run by the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme, aims to scale up invasive species management for biodiversity protection in the Pacific.
The main aim of this latest project is to improve the livelihoods and climate change resilience by reducing the impact of invasive species on their natural and agricultural ecosystems.
Papua New Guinea -
The prime minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape, who also leads the Pangu Pati, says the election of Francesca Semoso as North Bougainville MP shows the party's commitment to promoting women into leadership roles.
She is now the third female MP in the current PNG parliament and the first woman from Bougainville to win such a role.
Marape said the victory bolsters the Pangu Pati's representation, giving them 54 seats, up from the 39 they won in the election in 2022.
"Semoso's election stands as a beacon of hope and progress, highlighting the remarkable strides being made towards gender equality in PNG," he said.
Northern Marianas - license
The Imperial Pacific International Saipan casino (LLC) is proposing to pay US$6 million a year to the government in exchange for getting back its suspended casino license.
The Commonwealth Casino Commission ordered the indefinite suspension of the casino's gaming license in April 2021 for violating five enforcement actions
A casino spokeperson said the suspension has caused damage to IPI Holdings, the company's parent company based in Hong Kong.
They said if IPI Holdings can get its license back and resume operations, then it can absolutely continue to pay its obligations, taxes, and agreed-upon fees to the CNMI government.
Pacific - seabed
The International Seabed Authority's third and last part of its 28th annual session started in Kingston, Jamaica on Monday.
Member states finished their last meeting in July agreeing that no deep-sea mining code would be adopted and for discussions to continue into next year.
The United Kingdom is the latest country to support a moratorium on the practice, the country made it's stance just prior to the meeting starting.
The ISA agreed to discuss a moratorium at next years negotiations.