The US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Kurt Campbell, today begins a week-long whirlwind Pacific tour with a stop in Tonga.
This is his second visit to the region in just over a year to reaffirm US ties with Pacific island countries only weeks before the Pacific Islands Forum summit in the Cook Islands.
In Nuku'alofa, he is scheduled to meet the Prime Minister Lord Tu'ivakano, whose government is in the middle of an opposition bid to hold a vote of no-confidence.
Mr Campbell will also travel to Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.
