Talofa Lava and warm Pacific greetings. I'm honoured to be given the opportunity to deliver this Pacific Lecture, as has been the tradition for the Lowy Institute to host world leaders in order to foster positive relations between Australia and our respective countries. I have been asked to provide through a Samoa-focused lenses, Pacific perspectives on the region's most pressing challenges and opportunities. And there are a few. The Pacific islands occupy a vast oceanic region that covers almost 20% of the Earth's surface, and is home to the world's largest concentration of microstates. I quote from the renowned Pacific writer, Epeli Hau'ofa: Oceania is us. We are the sea. We are the ocean. We should not be defined by the smallness of our islands, but the greatness of our oceans. The Pacific's three ethno-geographic sub regions of Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia include 10 sovereign states, five freely-associated states and eight dependent territories. For the Pacific region, and its island countries, the ocean is crucial. Exercising a sense of common identity and purpose linked to the ocean has been critical for protecting and promoting the potential of our shared Pacific Ocean. It is this commonality of the fundamental essence of the region, which has the potential to empower the region through collective and combined agendas and actions. The Blue Pacific narrative will strengthen the existing policy frameworks that harness the ocean as a driver of a transformative socio-cultural, political and economic development of the Pacific. And it gives renewed impetus to deepening Pacific regionalism. We know that we can do more together than alone.
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