[Photo: AAP]
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will arrive in the country today.
In Fiji, he will sign a landmark treaty, as Australia and China face off in a diplomatic fight for influence in the Indo-Pacific.
He is expected to sign the Vuvale Union agreement with Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka tomorrow.
He will then push on to the Solomon Islands on Tuesday to progress negotiations on a new treaty with Honiara, as part of a three-day Pacific tour.
Albanese will meanwhile become the first foreign leader to participate in Solomon Islands’ Independence Day celebrations.
His message will be that Australia is a nation the Pacific can rely on.
Newly-elected Solomons Prime Minister Matthew Wale made Australia his first international trip as leader during a visit to Canberra in June.
Engaged in a diplomatic “knife fight” with China for regional influence, the Albanese government has since inked a number of security and economic deals with Pacific Island nations.
The latest among them is the breakthrough $500 million Nakamal Agreement signed with Vanuatu, which rules out the use of its territory for foreign military bases.
Lowy’s Pacific Program director Oliver Nobetau says Albanese’s visit will be significant as he has built “momentum” with the region’s leaders.
Nobetau says despite all the domestic pressures, Albanese sees this as a permanent contest.
He says that Albanese is willing to make strides and commitments and build the relationships out in the Pacific.
