Background 

Recalling the Boe Declaration and the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent endorsed by Pacific Leaders at the 49th and 51st Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting held in Nauru (2018) and Suva (2022), respectively, Forum Island Countries committed to a strengthening of their security policy arrangements to more effectively address the complex challenges of the 21st century.   

In 2019, in partnership with the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Secretariat, the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS) co-hosted a multilateral workshop advancing this commitment. Interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, sufficient time may now have elapsed to revisit progress on this vital task. This present workshop will provide an opportunity to reflect on how the security landscape has dramatically changed these past years and how that might affect the ordering of security priorities and approaches to security arrangements. Recognizing, moreover, the growing maturity of security coordination in the Pacific islands, the workshop will enable a valuable exchange of perspectives among participants, drawing out comparative experiences, best practices, and lessons learned, particularly relating to the implementation of national security arrangements, their resourcing, and quality assurance practices.   

Intended Outcomes 

Strengthened national security approaches informed by and incorporating an updated shared appreciation of security priorities now faced and best practices in national security arrangements among the Pacific islands; 

Updated security assistance awareness informed by improved clarity on current priority areas for assistance and support to the Pacific islands to address urgent security challenges and strengthen the development of their national security policy arrangements; and 

Sustained collaboration among participants, strengthening security policy arrangements in the Pacific islands through an expanded and networked group of national security professionals. 

Methodology 

Scene-setting presentations by participants will set up facilitated small working group sessions for robust and candid discussions of the issues and opportunities highlighted above. Utilizing findings developed during the working groups, participants will develop a menu of recommendations to strengthen security policy arrangements in the Pacific islands and to help inform assistance priorities for the future. The workshop will be conducted entirely in English and in accordance with Chatham House non-attribution rules.