The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) plans to deploy a unit of police from its member countries at the APEC summit in Port Moresby later this year.
Fiji Foreign Minister Ratu Inoke Kubuabola Photo: supp
At a two day MSG meeting in Fiji, Fiji's defence minister, Ratu Inoke Kubuabola, said a 30 person unit would assist Papua New Guinea police at the November gathering of world leaders from around the Asia Pacific region.
According to the Fiji government, delegates from Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Indonesia were also attending and working towards a collaborative security strategy for the MSG region.
Ratu Inoke, who was opening the meeting, also noted the sub region's prosperous development and the vast resources at its disposal.
"In this quest to enhance and strengthen our sub regionalism, we have become more prone to both internal and external threats as we in the sub region are the gateway to Asia and the Pacific and if not addressed and properly maintained, could escalate to more bigger issues," he said.
Threats included illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, transnational crime, drug smuggling, human trafficking, cybersecurity challenges and climate change, he said.
"These growing challenges will need a collective, collaborative effort to address and thus the need for an overarching document to address these concerns is warranted in the RSS (Regional Security Strategy)."