Vanuatu is to have talks with France in Honiara next month over border issues.
Vanuatu's Prime Minister told the Daily Post his government wants to resolve the long-running dispute with France over the tiny islands of Matthew and Hunter that are claimed by both countries.
The red marker shows where Matthew and Hunter are in relation to Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Photo: Google maps
The remote volcanic islands lie to Vanuatu's south, and the east of the French territory of New Caledonia.
Charlot Salwai said the border treaty which neighbouring Fiji forged with France in the early 1980s remained problematic in regard to the Matthew and Hunter dispute.
He said that treaty was made without consulting Vanuatu, and that it had become a regional issue which needed addressing.
"This is why Vanuatu continues to dispute France's claims and the treaty with Fiji," he explained to Daily Post.
"There are geographical reasons, cultural and traditional reasons it has in line with Melanesian spirit, Melanesian culture. We have the word of the Kanaks and the senators of New Caledonia who expressed support for of our positions last year."
Vanuatu's Prime Minister Charlot Salwai listens to speeches at the 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) opening in the Micronesian capital Palikir on September 8, 2016. Photo: AFP
Mr Salwai raised the Matthew and Hunter issue with the French while in Paris in January and more recently with France's Minister of Overseas Territories.
More concerted talks are set to be held in October at the Forum Fisheries Agency headquarters in Honiara.
After that, according to Mr Salwai, Vanuatu would look to start discussions with Fiji on the border treaty between the two countries.
Last year Vanuatu and Solomon Islands signed a border treaty which Vanuatu has ratified and is awaiting ratification by the Solomons parliament.
Mr Salwai said he hoped that it could be ratified in time for the treaty agreement to be ratified at the UN General Assembly session later this month in New York.
