17 Jan 2017

Vanuatu hopes for talks with France on disputed islands

8:36 am on 17 January 2017

Vanuatu is hoping to bring up the disputed Matthew and Hunter Islands with France at a meeting in Paris later this month.

Vanuatu's foreign minister Bruno Leingkon is travelling to Europe for talks with the European Union and bilateral talks with the French government.

Both Vanuatu and France claim the remote islands which lie to Vanuatu's south.

Mr Leingkon told parliament last month he had been invited over by the French to discuss a way forward for Matthew and Hunter on 26 January.

A spokesman for the minister Charles Lini says it is still not clear what is on the table but the issue is an important one for Vanuatu.

Mr Leingkon earlier said he had kick-started dialogue on the islands with the High Commissioner of France in New Caledonia.

He said the Kanaks of New Caledonia had agreed the islands belonged to Vanuatu and the problem lay with France.

The two islands are considered by Vanuatu as part of Tafea Province and under traditional relationships, the indigenous Kanak people of New Caledonia have links to the islands.

France has taken the matter to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in New York.

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