Prime Minister James Marape has urged Pacific Islands Forum leaders to strengthen regional security cooperation and seriously consider the proposed Waqa Moana Concept, warning that the Pacific’s greatest security strength lies in unity.
The Waqa Moana Concept is a regional security framework aimed at strengthening Pacific cooperation against transnational threats, including organized crime and drug trafficking. Meaning “canoe on the ocean,” the concept reflects Pacific nations working together across their shared region.
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Speaking during the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Plenary Session in Koror, Palau, today, Prime Minister Marape was contributing to discussions under Agenda 4 on regional peace and security.
Leaders were invited to endorse the Regional Peace and Security Action Plan 2026–2030, endorse the Pacific Humanitarian Response Coordination Mechanism (PResCoM) Policy and Operating Guidelines, and agree in principle to the Waqa Moana Concept, subject to further consultations at national level.
Prime Minister Marape in a statement yesterday said individual Pacific nations would continue to take responsibility for their own national security, but the region must recognize that its collective strength came from standing together.
“Our strength must remain in our togetherness,” Prime Minister Marape said.
He commended the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat for advancing the Waqa Moana Concept and urged leaders to give it serious consideration.
“We must stand together,” he said.
Prime Minister Marape said events elsewhere in the world demonstrated how countries could quickly become affected by conflicts and security challenges because of geography, strategic relationships and shared interests.
He said Pacific leaders therefore needed to look beyond immediate national interests and consider what the regional security environment could look like over the next 10, 15 and 20 years.
The Prime Minister said Papua New Guinea faced security challenges different in scale and nature from many other Pacific Island countries because of its size, population and geographical position, including its approximately 800-kilometre land border with Indonesia.
“In security, we don’t compromise,” Prime Minister Marape said.
He said PNG respected the sovereignty of other nations and maintained relationships with countries across the world but was clear about its own national security interests and its choice of security partners.
He said Papua New Guinea would continue to engage constructively with all nations while maintaining security relationships with partners that understood PNG, its values, circumstances and place in the Pacific.
Prime Minister Marape acknowledged Australia as Papua New Guinea’s closest partner across many areas of the bilateral relationship and also referred to PNG’s defence and security cooperation with other partners, including the United States, France, United Kingdom and Indonesia.
He said these partnerships contributed to PNG’s domestic security and complemented the wider regional security architecture.
However, Prime Minister Marape stressed that the Pacific itself must remain at the centre of discussions concerning its security.
“The Pacific is home for me, and I relate best and foremost to those in the Pacific,” he said.
Using the traditional analogy of the fireplace, Prime Minister Marape said Pacific nations shared deep cultural understandings that should underpin how they approached security.
He said that in traditional communities, the fireplace was where people gathered, talked and understood each other, and the same principle should apply to regional security.
“Security is a fireplace conversation,” Prime Minister Marape said.
“You speak to those who understand you; you relate to those who understand you.”
He said Pacific countries might be relatively small in population, but collectively they occupied and were responsible for an enormous maritime area of strategic importance to the world.
Prime Minister Marape also highlighted the growing threat posed by transnational crime, particularly drug trafficking, saying PNG and other Pacific countries were increasingly exposed to criminal networks operating across borders.
He urged leaders not to be fearful of establishing stronger regional mechanisms, provided these respected the sovereignty and national circumstances of individual Forum members.
“Let’s not be fearful about this,” Prime Minister Marape said.
He said the challenge for Pacific leaders was to develop a regional security structure that strengthened collective action while fully respecting the sovereignty of every member state.
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Prime Minister Marape said the Pacific’s security environment would continue to evolve, and leaders needed to make decisions today that protected future generations.
He reaffirmed Papua New Guinea’s commitment to a peaceful, secure and united Pacific, with regional solidarity at the heart of its response to emerging security challenges.