Air Vanuatu set to order four A220s – report

Air Vanuatu is set to put down a VUV850 million vatu (USD7.46 million) deposit on four Airbus narrowbodies. According to The Daily Post, Minister of Finance and Economic Management, Gaetan Pikioune, and Air Vanuatu Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Derek Nice, signed the instrument on February 15.
According to Nice, the jets will be…

Vanuatu off black list with EU

Vanuatu is among states removed from the EU blacklist due to its intensive monitoring of financial market transactions. Others include Bosnia, Guyana, Laos, and Uganda.
The European Commission added Saudi Arabia, Panama, U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam and Samoa to a blacklist of nations it considers a threat because of…

Australia courts Vanuatu

Richard Butler | RNZ – Andrew Thomas | February 15th, 2019.
Analysts say Australia sees China’s influence as a potential threat to sovereignty, independence, stability and even to peace.
To counter China’s growing influence in the South Pacific, Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison says he wants to…

Imagining Australia’s South Pacific family

Richard Butler | RNZ Graeme Dobel | February 10th, 2019 Part of a leader’s magic is to spin a few words into political gold, capturing the moment and proclaiming the future. Think Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ‘new deal’, Winston Churchill’s ‘iron curtain’, or Ben Chifley’s...