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Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has had a full-on schedule while in Vanuatu - home to what is considered to be the strongest kava in the world.
The party - including Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts - were then treated to the traditional welcoming drink given to guests all around the Pacific region: kava.
Members of the New Zealand delegation, led by Deputy PM Winston Peters, sample some local kava with Vanuatu President Nikenike Vurobaravu (left). Photo / MFAT
Kava is traditionally served in a coconut shell. The Ni-Vanuatu locals served their Kiwi guests kava in small bowls.
In video footage captured of the moment, the ministers and others travelling with them can be seen quietly taking a drink - Reti taking a quick but respectful sip from his bowl, as Peters continues to drink deeply from his.
Like many Pacific countries - namely Fiji, Samoa and Tonga - kava is used to welcome guests and is often prepared for ceremonial and special occasions.
The goods: Kava bowls are prepared for the Kiwi delegation. Photo / MFAT
Later, there is a tour of the local and iconic Mama’s Market in Port Vila - developed with New Zealand’s help and which is a colourful hub for local women to sell fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as handmade handicrafts and cultural treasures.
Today’s programme saw the business side of the trip, with bilateral meetings between government officials and announcements made.
$7.5 million for community policing
A total of $15.5 million has been announced by the New Zealand Government to help Vanuatu’s community policing efforts and its government’s response to the ongoing issue of climate change.
Minister for Climate Change Simon Watts visited the colourful Mama's Market in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Photo / Simon Watts Facebook
Peters announced $7.5m will go to community policing in the Vanuatu Police Force - enabling it to establish more community safety teams in remote parts of Vanuatu and continuing to broader officer training on community policing, he said.
The announcement follows an appeal from the Vanuatu Police Force in 2019, when it approached New Zealand for help with establishing community policing in their country.
Since then, Kiwi police advisors based in Vanuatu have drawn on their experiences of community policing in New Zealand to help support Vanuatu Police to come up with its own approach.
“Vanuatu’s community policing is focused on police working with communities to resolve their own problems, in their own ways [and] especially in remote areas,” Peters, also the Foreign Affairs Minister, said.
$8 million for climate change response
Port Vila is the capital city of Vanuatu. Photo / File
“The approach promotes safety and peace at a community level - while holding people to account and increasing access to justice.”
As well as law and justice, Peters - joined with Watts - announced $8 million to the Ni-Vanuatu Government to support its response to the increasing effects of climate change.
Watts said meeting Vanuatu’s Climate Change Minister, Ralph Regenvanu, gave him a valuable chance to see and hear more about the impact of climate change on the ground.
The delegation will spend another night in Vanuatu; after a scheduled trip to New Caledonia had to be called off because of riots that have erupted in the capital of Noumea and the international airport was forced to ground all flights.
A spokesman for Peters confirmed they are now due to travel to the final leg of the tour - Tuvalu - tomorrow.
Vaimoana Mase is the Pasifika editor for the Herald’s Talanoa section, sharing stories from the Pacific community. She won junior reporter of the year at the then Qantas Media Awards in 2010 and won the best opinion writing award at the 2023 Voyager Media Awards.
