Joint Heads of Pacific Security (JHoPS) concluded its 5th Annual JHOPS meeting in Koror, Palau, issuing a joint communique, prioritizing security collaboration across agencies and the region.
Law enforcement, national security, and military leaders, including police, customs, and immigration from across the Pacific, met for the fifth annual Joint Heads of Pacific Security (JHoPS) Meeting from August 23-24, 2023.
In the communique, members affirmed the Pacific leaders’ guidance in the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent and the Boe Declaration on Regional Security as their “strategic guidance, prioritizing security collaboration across agencies and the region.”
The members acknowledged in the communique the “valuable role and leadership of existing regional security organizations, including the Forum Fisheries Agency, Pacific Fusion Centre, Pacific Security College, Pacific Islands Chiefs Of Police, Pacific Immigration Development Community, Oceania Customs Organization and the South West Pacific Heads of Maritime Forces.”
JHoPS members agreed in the communique to “focus on the areas of cross-agency cooperation and coordination between regional security agencies to address multidimensional security challenges. They also agreed that Palau, as the 2023 JHoPS Chair, will report to the Pacific Island Forum leaders representing the region’s security practitioners and “advise on shifting security challenges and jointly recommend regional security solutions.”
Additional agreements include “commitment to the 2022 Denarau Outcome” and establishing a working group to “further strengthen relationships, solidify trust and reciprocity and to progress outcomes for ratification at the next meeting.”
“Members acknowledged the importance of coordination, information sharing, and interoperability and committed to sharing concepts of operations and best practices. Members reaffirmed the importance of the JHoPS as a forum to enhance cooperation among security partners and to collectively address Pacific operational security challenges,” stated the communique.
Papua New Guinea will host the next JHoPS Meeting, while the Cook Islands registered their interest to host the JHoPS Meeting after Papua New Guinea.