Australia and Vanuatu set to sign strategic pact after months of negotiations

Australia-Vanuatu Nakamal agreement set to be signed after months of fraught negotiations Mon 29 Jun 2026 at 5:30am In short: Vanuatu's Prime Minister Jotham Napat and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are set to ink the Nakamal Agreement later today in Canberra. It comes almost 10 months after Mr Napat pulled out of a planned signing ceremony in Port Vila, citing concerns around sovereignty. What's next? The updated Nakamal pact is also expected to reaffirm Vanuatu's existing laws, which state that its critical infrastructure will remain free from "militarisation". Australia and Vanuatu are on the brink of finally signing a landmark strategic pact after months of prolonged and sometimes acrimonious negotiations. Vanuatu's Prime Minister Jotham Napat and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese are set to ink the Nakamal Agreement later today in Canberra, almost 10 months after Mr Napat pulled out of a planned signing ceremony in Port Vila, citing concerns around sovereignty. The pact being signed today has been watered down from the original Nakamal Agreement, which was given initial approval in a spectacular ceremony at a spiritually charged location atop Vanuatu's Mount Yasur last year. Most importantly, both countries have dropped key clauses clearly aimed at limiting Chinese investment in Vanuatu's ports, airports and telecommunications by blocking "third party involvement" in critical infrastructure which could affect either country or "the region's security interests". Last month, Vanuatu's cabinet finally gave a green light to the compromise pact, with one Vanuatu government source insisting it still enshrined Australia's position as the country's main security and policing partner, although without stopping Vanuatu from engaging with other countries. The same government source told the ABC that Vanuatu was willing to come to Australia "first" on critical infrastructure needs, although it is not clear whether that language is included in the final agreement to be signed by both leaders. Yesterday, a version of the updated Nakamal Agreement was leaked on a well-known Facebook group in Vanuatu. A spokesperson for Vanuatu's government did not deny that the document was genuine, but said it was not the final version of the agreement set to be signed by both leaders later today. The leaked draft would not give Canberra veto power over investments on critical infrastructure, but said that Vanuatu would "consult Australia on proposed third party engagement in Vanuatu's critical infrastructure", which must remain "free from militarisation, any form of foreign interference or unauthorised access." The text did not prevent Vanuatu maintaining policing ties with China but recognised Australia as the Pacific nation's "longstanding primary policing partner" and said Vanuatu would "prioritise" Pacific Island Forum members when it made policing requests. An Australian government spokesperson declined to comment on the document. The updated Nakamal pact is also expected to reaffirm Vanuatu's existing laws, which state that its critical infrastructure will remain free from "militarisation". A spokesman for Vanuatu's government, Kiery Manassah, told local broadcaster VBTC on Saturday that Australia had "finally" given approval to the agreement, and that "as it stands" both leaders should sign the pact on Monday. Australia and China struggle for Pacific influence The negotiations over Nakamal have also been complicated by the fierce struggle for influence in the Pacific island nation between Australia and China, which has been intent on securing its own strategic pact with Vanuatu called the Namele Agreement. The Australian government has privately accused Beijing of trying to block the Nakamal Agreement, and Mr Napat responded angrily when an Australian official told Vanuatu's major newspaper that the deal could be endangered if the Pacific nation signed a security pact with China. The prime minister showed a flash of frustration with both Canberra and Beijing in parliament last month, saying Vanuatu's "development partners" were "using their interests to try to undermine us". The ABC has been told that Mr Napat characterised both the Nakamal Agreement and the Namele Agreement as "externally driven" pacts in a recent meeting with senior US officials. Some politicians in Vanuatu have also accused Australia of withholding funding for key development projects as Nakamal negotiations dragged on, and insisted they were blindsided when Australia excluded Vanuatu from this year's ballot for the Pacific Engagement Visa, the primary permanent migration pathway to Australia for the region. That decision triggered an explosion of criticism on social media, with many ni-Vanuatu accusing Australia of trying to use the visa as leverage in its negotiations. Mr Napat's government has also been pushing hard for Australia to relax visa restrictions for Vanuatu citizens, with the prime minister declaring last year he would not sign the deal unless the Albanese government agreed to allow "visa-free travel". Negotiations were 'drawn out' While Australia was never going to completely liberalise travel from Vanuatu, in part because of the government's concerns over criminals exploiting the country's "golden passport" scheme, Mr Napat has previously said Canberra will kickstart formal discussions on easier travel arrangements as part of the Nakamal Agreement. Pacific expert Tess Newton Cain, an adjunct associate professor at the Griffith Asia Institute, said the Nakamal negotiations had been "difficult and drawn out" and that Australia would be "relieved" to have finally hammered out a deal. But she said the watered-down agreement was "always going to demonstrate where the limits of Australia's strategic influence are". "The main ask on the part of Vanuatu was visa-free travel to Australia, and Australia was never going to be able to meet that … which was always going to undermine their ability to push for what they wanted," she said. "And Vanuatu does guard its sovereignty and independence very closely … there was always going to be very little appetite in Port Vila for something seen to preclude Vanuatu's ability to deal with other partners." Last year's Nakamal Agreement was set to pour some $500 million into key priorities for Vanuatu's government over a decade, but it is not clear exactly what financial commitments Canberra is making under the current pact. Dr Newton Cain said Mr Napat's main focus after signing would be on implementing the deal, and demonstrating to people in Vanuatu that it will deliver real development benefits. She also criticised the way Australian officials had approached the PEV decision, saying they had "allowed an information vacuum to occur" by failing to provide a public explanation of why it had excluded Vanuatu. "If the Napat government wasn't aware [of the decision] then that's poor handling of the relationship," she said. The federal government declined to answer a series of questions from the ABC on the Nakamal Agreement ahead of the visit. Mr Albanese issued a statement on Saturday, announcing Mr Napat's visit but did not mention the pact, simply saying the two leaders would "discuss ways to further expand our bilateral relationship". The deal comes as the prime minister prepares for an intense bout 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 treaty called the Vuvale Union. He is also expected to travel to Solomon Islands for a reciprocal visit in the wake of Prime Minister Matthew Wale's recent high-profile trip to Canberra, where both leaders agreed to kickstart negotiations on a new treaty. The two leaders are expected to discuss the contours of that treaty and a host of other issues, including Mr Wale's push for a new regional security agreement. Mr Wale discussed the idea with PNG's Prime Minister James Marape in Port Moresby on Friday last week, with Mr Marape telling journalists that the Solomon Islands PM wanted a new security "architecture" to help the region deal with pressing problems like drug trafficking. Last week, Australia's Shadow Foreign Minister Ted O'Brien threw the Coalition's weight behind the idea, saying they would press ahead with it if they regained power. Labor has already signed sweeping strategic agreements with Tuvalu and Nauru since taking office in 2022, as well as the Pukpuk defence treaty with Papua New Guinea, and is also pushing ahead with a separate pact with Tonga. PNG's Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko recently flagged that Mr Marape would also travel to Australia this week to celebrate the landmark agreement officially coming into force.