Australia's Foreign Minister Bob Carr has used his brief trip to Port Vila to visit two local NGOs which receive funding from Canberra such as the Vanuatu Women Center and the Wan Smol Bag theatre.
Mr Carr says he is impressed by the theatre as a creative outlet for less fortunate ni-Vanuatu, as well as Wan Smol Bag's health clinic and nutrition centre.
He says Australia is also happy to support the Women's Centre.
"One of our goals is to see that the protection of women and girls in the Pacific is elevated. Our Prime Minister Gillard said that she'd do that. That's a very, very important objective of Australia's And by seeing that women who suffer violence and abuse can get treatment and counselling straight away is important."
Bob Carr
