Statement

I will travel to Honiara from 12-13 April to further strengthen Australia’s relationship with Solomon Islands.

For many years, Australia has stood strongly as a partner and a friend of Solomon Islands. Australia has worked with other Pacific family members to support Solomon Islands, including as part of the Solomon Islands Assistance Force (SIAF), and earlier through the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI). I look forward to meeting with members of the SIAF deployment whilst in Honiara.

My discussions will include the proposed Solomon Islands-China security agreement. The visit follows recent dialogue and visits between the Solomon Islands Government and Australian officials.

Direct engagement has been ongoing, including discussions between Foreign Minister Payne and Solomon Islands Foreign Minister Manele, as well as my own discussions with Pacific family partners in Brisbane over the weekend ahead of the Our Ocean Conference in Palau. 

Solomon Islands is a valued member of our Pacific family. We respect the right of Solomon Islands to make sovereign decisions about its national security.

We look forward to ongoing engagement with Solomon Islands, and with our Pacific family members, on these very important issues. Our view remains that the Pacific family will continue to meet the security needs of our region.

Australia will always support our Pacific family, reflected in our ‘Pacific step up’. This includes our enhanced cooperation on COVID-19 resilience and economic recovery, health, infrastructure, climate resilience, security and other shared challenges.