Pacific Islands nations hold summit in Tonga. From Aug. 26-30, the Pacific Islands Forum, or PIF, will hold its annual summit in Nuku'alofa, Tonga. The 18-country grouping will primarily focus on implementing further steps of its 2050 Strategy for a Blue Pacific Continent, which was adopted in 2022 and centers on climate change resilience as the region's top priority. As part of the strategy, the island nations will also seek to implement funding mechanisms for the Pacific Resilience Facility, a regional financial institution intended to plug gaps in PIF countries' infrastructure, though funding for the facility is still well short of its $500 million target. To help meet its financing goal, the bloc will look to external partners such as the United States and China, which have observer status in the PIF and will be represented at the meeting. At the same time, the region is confronted by what Fiji...
