Australia and Vanuatu have signed a landmark strategic pact after months of lengthy and sometimes bitter negotiations.
Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese finally put pen to paper on the Nakamala Agreement this afternoon in Canberra, almost 10 months after Mr Napat pulled out of a planned signing ceremony in Port Vila, citing concerns over sovereignty.
The pact signed today was simplified from the original agreement, which was initially approved in a spectacular ceremony at a spiritually charged location atop Mount Yasur in Vanuatu last year.
Senior ministers from Australia and Vanuatu initialed the Nakamal Agreement atop the active Yasur volcano. (ABC News: Lillyrose VelVel)
Last month, Vanuatu’s cabinet finally gave the green light to a compromise agreement, which was ultimately approved by Albana’s government earlier this month.
Both countries agreed to water down key provisions apparently aimed at limiting Chinese investment in Vanuatu’s ports, airports and telecommunications, blocking “third party involvement” in critical infrastructure that could impact any country or “regional security interests.”
Instead, the new agreement states that Vanuatu will “consult with Australia regarding proposed third party involvement in Vanuatu’s critical infrastructure,” which must remain “free from militarization or any form of foreign interference or unauthorized access.”
Anthony Albanese said the new agreement was a “balanced one” that would “protect our collective and individual security and our sovereignty”, while Mr Napat said it was a “shared commitment to continue to strengthen the comprehensive partnership between our two countries”.
But Mr Napat played down the significance of Vanuatu’s new commitments to critical infrastructure, saying his country had already passed legislation making clear it would “not tolerate any actual use of militarization for our critical infrastructure”.
“We are paying very close attention to all of our critical infrastructure,”
– he said.
The updated Nakamala Pact is expected to reaffirm Vanuatu’s existing laws. (ABC News: Lillyrose VelVel)
The Nakamal Agreement does not prevent Vanuatu from maintaining policing ties with China, but recognizes Australia as the Pacific nation’s “long-standing primary policing partner” and states that Vanuatu will “give priority” to members of the Pacific Islands Forum when it makes inquiries about policing.
It also makes clear that Vanuatu will come to Australia, New Zealand and France first if it needs help responding to a humanitarian disaster before turning to other countries.
Mr Albanese said the pact was a “recognition of sovereignty” but also “recognizes Australia’s historic role, which is underpinned by this agreement, of Australia being the security partner of choice in the Pacific”.
Australia and China vie for influence in the Pacific
Negotiations over Nakamal were also complicated by a bitter battle for influence in the Pacific island nation between Australia and China, which had intended to forge its own strategic pact with Vanuatu called the Namele Agreement.
The Australian government has privately accused Beijing of trying to block the Nakamala agreement, and Mr Napat reacted angrily when an Australian official told Vanuatu’s main newspaper that the agreement could be in jeopardy if the Pacific nation signs a security pact with China.
Last month in Parliament, the Prime Minister showed an outburst of frustration in both Canberra and Beijing when he said Vanuatu’s “development partners” were “using their interests to try to undermine us”.
ABC reported that Mr Napat, in a recent meeting with senior US officials, described both the Nakamal and Namela agreements as “externally driven” agreements.
Mr Napat told reporters in Canberra that the Namela agreement “has not yet been signed” but did not specify when that might be, saying he was “awaiting clearance from Beijing”.
He also promised to make the agreement public.
“We will share the agreement. There’s nothing to hide. Our government is transparent”
– he said.
Australia-Vanuatu pact close to signing
Today’s signing ceremony caps a long and sometimes agonizing series of negotiations that have tested the patience of officials and politicians in both countries.
Some politicians in Vanuatu have accused Australia of withholding funding for key development projects as negotiations in Nakamala dragged on, and insisted they were blindsided when Australia excluded Vanuatu from a vote this year on the Pacific Engagement visa, the main permanent migration route to Australia for the region.
The decision sparked an outpouring of criticism on social media, with many Vanuatu residents accusing Australia of trying to use the visa as leverage in negotiations.
Mr Napata’s government has also been pushing hard for Australia to ease visa restrictions for Vanuatu citizens, with the prime minister saying last year he would not sign the agreement unless the Albana government agreed to allow a “visa-free regime”.
Pacific region expert Tess Newton Kane, an associate professor at the Griffith Asia Institute, said she did not expect the Nakamala signing to have “much impact on the progress of the Namele Agreement, which is essentially a repeat of previous development cooperation agreements.”
Negotiations dragged on
The updated Nakamala Agreement states that Vanuatu will be subject to “enhanced mobility arrangements” but does not provide any details, merely committing to “reconsider” the status quo.
He also suggests Australia will not expand access to people holding so-called “golden passports” that have been used by some criminal gangs, saying Vanuatu will “develop effective mechanisms to differentiate citizenship by investment from other forms of citizenship”.
Australian officials were given a grand reception upon their arrival in Vanuatu to sign the Nakamala Agreement in August last year. (ABC News: Lillyrose VelVel)
Dr Newton Kane said the Nakamala negotiations had been “difficult and protracted” and that Australia would be “relieved” if it finally struck a deal.
But she said the watered-down agreement “will always demonstrate the limits of Australia’s strategic influence”.
“Vanuatu’s main demand was visa-free travel with Australia and Australia will never be able to meet that… which will always undermine their ability to get what they want.”
she said.
“And Vanuatu does guard its sovereignty and independence very carefully… there has always been very little appetite in Port Vila for anything that would prevent Vanuatu from doing business with other partners.”
Dr Newton Kane said the reference to improving access to Australia for visitors from Vanuatu would be well received, although she expected “people will want more details about what that means and when it will happen”.
Last year’s Nakamala Agreement committed around $500 million to key Vanuatu government priorities over the decade, but it is unclear exactly what financial commitment Canberra is making under the current agreement.
Mr Albanese would not say what the cost to Australian taxpayers would be, saying the figures would be included in the half-year budget report at the end of the year.
But the ABC understands Australia will still invest this amount of money in Vanuatu’s key priorities, but over a longer period of time.
“We are of course supportive of Vanuatu’s economic development,” Mr Albanese said. “Economic development in our region is in the interests of the people of Vanuatu, but also in the national interests of Australia.”
Dr Newton Kane said that once signed, Mr Napata’s focus would be on implementing the agreement and showing people in Vanuatu that it would bring real development benefits.
She also criticized Australian officials’ approach to the PEV decision, saying they had “allowed an information vacuum” by failing to provide a public explanation for why they excluded Vanuatu.
“If the Napata government did not know (about the decision), then this is a bad attitude towards the relationship,”
she said.
The deal comes as the prime minister prepares for an intense round of regional diplomacy, including a visit to Suva where he and his Fijian counterpart Sitiveni Rabuka are widely expected to sign a new economic and security pact called the Vuvale Union.
Solomon Islands Prime Minister unveils security treaty
He is also expected to make a return visit to the Solomon Islands following Prime Minister Matthew Whale’s recent high-profile trip to Canberra, where both leaders agreed to begin negotiations on a new treaty.
The two leaders are expected to discuss the contours of the treaty and a host of other issues, including Mr. Wale’s push for a new regional security agreement.
Mr Wale discussed the idea with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape in Port Moresby on Friday last week, with Mr Marape telling reporters that the Solomon Islands prime minister wanted to create a new security “architecture” that would help the region deal with pressing problems such as drug trafficking.
Last week, Australia’s shadow foreign minister Ted O’Brien backed the idea, saying they would move forward if they regained power.
Labor has already signed major strategic agreements with Tuvalu and Nauru since taking office in 2022, as well as the Pukpuk defense pact with Papua New Guinea, and is also moving ahead with a separate pact with Tonga.
PNG Foreign Minister Justin Tkachenko recently said Mr Marape would also travel to Australia this week to celebrate the official entry into force of the landmark agreement.