PRIME Minister, Manasseh Sogavare, has been briefed on the Australian, United Kingdom and United States (AUKUS) security arrangement.
AUKUS is the trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, announced on 15 September 2021 for the Indo-Pacific region. Under the pact, the US and the UK will help Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.
The briefing was conducted by the Acting Australian High Commissioner to Solomon Islands, Sally-Anne Vincent, in Honiara last Friday.
Prime Minister Sogavare thanked the Acting High Commissioner for providing the briefing and reemphasised the importance of transparency, openness, mutual respect and continuous dialogue on AUKUS arrangement, especially when both countries are parties to the Treaty of Rarotonga and other international treaties on the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The Prime Minister reminded the delegation that the Pacific region is one of the peaceful and a nuclear weapon free zone.
Ms Vincent and her delegation assured the Prime Minister that as a non-nuclear weapon state, the acquiring of the nuclear-powered submarines will be done in strict compliance with their obligations in the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT and the safeguard measures applied by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
