New Zealand to host 2024 Pacific defence assembly

Defence Minister Judith Collins yesterday introduced New Zealand will host subsequent 12 months’s South Pacific Defence Ministers’ Meeting (SPDMM).

“Having just returned from this year’s meeting in Noumea, I witnessed first-hand the value of meeting with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security and defence matters. I welcome the opportunity to host next year’s meeting to continue to progress our joint agenda,” Judith Collins says.

This 12 months’s assembly happened in New Caledonia and coated a variety of points related to the area, together with maritime safety, local weather change, humanitarian help and catastrophe aid, and regional safety structure.

“As outlined in the joint communique from the meeting, together we continued to identify ways we can work together more effectively to address regional challenges.”

In addition to attending the official proceedings, Minister Collins held conferences with counterparts from host nation France, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, Chile and Australia. 

New Zealand will host the ninth annual South Pacific Defence Ministers’ assembly (SPDMM) in 2024, with dates and site to be confirmed.

SPDMM entails Defence Ministers from Papua New Guinea, Fiji, France, Tonga, Chile, Australia and New Zealand. The United Kingdom, United States and Japan took half as observers in 2023. 

Source: Beehive