Australia and Vanuatu are on the precipice of signing a landmark security and economic agreement as Pacific island leaders prepare to meet.
The Nakamal agreement will likely be inked on Tuesday when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his counterpart Jotham Napat meet in Vanuatu.
Mr Albanese will touch down in Port Vila to spend a day in the archipelago nation before he and Mr Napat travel to Honiara for the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting.
Mr Albanese has not confirmed he would sign the agreement but his counterpart has stated the prime minister was travelling to Vanuatu for that purpose.
The deal is said to contain a significant security element, but details have not been released.
This might focus on reducing a Chinese policing presence in Vanuatu, similar to Australia’s pact with the Solomon Islands, which commits it to reducing Chinese officers in exchange for budget aid and help expanding the local police force.
Vanuatu pushed for visa-free travel to Australia as part of negotiations but Mr Napat said this would be covered in a follow-up agreement when an initial deal was decided in August.
“The understanding is there,” he said.
The pact would go beyond security and cover economic development in areas Vanuatu named as priorities, Pacific expert James Batley said.
“From the Australian point of view, they will see this underlining and formalising their role as Vanuatu’s primary security and economic partner going forward,” said Mr Batley, from the Australian National University’s Department of Pacific Affairs.
It was unlikely to go as far as Australia’s agreements with Tuvalu or Nauru – which effectively give the federal government a veto over external security agreements – as Vanuatu wanted to preserve its longstanding non-alignment policy, Mr Batley said.
Mr Napat has stated that Vanuatu would retain its sovereignty and the agreement was based on trust, so Australia could not dictate which donor partners provided assistance.
Equally, blanket visa-free travel for Vanuatu citizens was unlikely, Mr Batley said, but there could be some travel concessions.
“I’m not sure if either side will get everything it wants,” he said.