There's a little sentence in the Asian Century White Paper that could have a big impact on Australia's aid program. It reads: By 2025, four of the 10 largest economies in the world will be in the region – China (first), India (third), Japan (fourth) and Indonesia (tenth). We hear a lot about

The Cook Islands, a tiny Pacific nation of 10,000 and recipient of significant Chinese aid, is the host of this year's annual Pacific Islands Forum, which starts on Monday 27 August. The meeting's official theme is Large Ocean Island States – the Pacific Challenge. But the real challenge for the

With counting underway to determine who will be the 111 winners in PNG's national elections, what was predicted to be an excessively violent poll has so far turned out to be relatively smooth. There have been exceptions, notably in the highlands where there were early reports of gunfights at polling

You've got to hand it to PNG's politicians. They don't disappoint in their ongoing effort to live by the country's unofficial motto: the land of the unexpected. The political process has at times descended into farce and confusion, and the nastiness of this ongoing battle has come at a

Despite some public sniping between Fiji's acting Prime Minister Aiyaz Sayed Khaiyum and Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr at the start of this week's meeting between the Pacific Island Forum's Ministerial Contact Group on Fiji and senior members of the Fijian regime, the outcome of the

Will the Gillard Government stick by its commitment to increase the aid budget to 0.5% of Australia's gross national income by 2015/2016? That's the question being asked as rumours and leaks gather momentum in the lead-up to Budget night on 10 May. In an interview with the 7.30 Report's Chris

Kevin Rudd's resignation as Australia's Foreign Minister gives the Gillard Government a timely opportunity to look anew at Australia's foreign aid program. Ever since Rudd, as Opposition Leader, made the election promise in 2007 that Australia's aid program would reach 0.5% of Australia's gross

It's taken twelve months, a ministerial traducing, an AFP investigation and a referral to the Auditor-General but the Gillard Government has finally decided that the rightful and permanent home for the government-funded international television service, the Australia Network, is within the

This time next week, over 2000 delegates representing the developed world's aid agencies, the developing world's planning departments, the globe's international development agencies and non-government organisations, emerging donors including China, Brazil and India, and a handful of influential