Australia and Vanuatu sign the Nakamal Agreement, sealing a Pacific base-exclusion pact

After a false start in September 2025 over sovereignty concerns, PM Albanese and PM Napat signed the comprehensive security and economic deal in Canberra, barring any foreign military infrastructure in Vanuatu in exchange for AU$500 million over a decade

Summary

Australia and Vanuatu signed the Nakamal Agreement for Comprehensive Economic and Security Cooperation in Canberra on Monday, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Vanuatuan Prime Minister Jotham Napat as signatories. The agreement bars any foreign military base or infrastructure on Vanuatu's territory, keeping the country's critical infrastructure free from militarisation and foreign interference. In exchange, Australia committed AU$500 million over ten years, alongside expanded cooperation on police training, maritime security, cybersecurity, and intelligence sharing. The deal had been delayed after Vanuatu's cabinet raised sovereignty concerns in September 2025, forcing a revised text before today's signing.

Why it matters

Vanuatu sits astride key Western Pacific shipping lanes and was the focus of sustained Chinese infrastructure investment as Beijing extended its reach through the Pacific island chain. The agreement closes off the base option as AUKUS partners move to harden the region's security architecture, and sets a template for how Canberra can price a non-alignment guarantee, combining a sovereignty assurance for the island partner with a decade-long cheque.

the record · 3

Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade — Official text of the Nakamal Agreement for Comprehensive Economic and Security Cooperation, the binding document establishing Vanuatu's commitment not to permit foreign military bases or infrastructure, and Australia's decade-long economic support package.

Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs (media release)Jun 29, 2026 03:12Z — Official statement released by Canberra the moment the agreement was signed, confirming Albanese and Napat as signatories and setting out the core commitments: the military-base prohibition, police and maritime cooperation expansion, and the AU$500 million financial package.

China Ministry of Foreign Affairs — MFA spokesperson statement responding to the Nakamal Agreement: 'We hope that cooperation between relevant countries and Pacific Island countries will contribute to the development and stability of the island region, not target any third party or be used as a tool for geopolitical rivalry.' Beijing expressed concern the agreement was aimed at China without naming it directly.

Regional takes · 1

▸ non-aligned; emphasises the China-exclusion subtext and Vanuatu's residual sovereignty anxieties

Al Jazeera · Qatar · en · Jun 29, 2026 09:12Z

Reports the Canberra signing and frames it explicitly as blocking China from building a military base in the Pacific. Notes that Vanuatu's cabinet nearly scuttled the deal in September 2025 over sovereignty concerns, and that Canberra agreed to revisions before the current text was finalised.

“Australia and Vanuatu have signed a landmark security deal preventing any foreign military base on the Pacific island, in an agreement long seen as aimed at keeping China out.”

Source ↗

Australia and Vanuatu sign the Nakamal Agreement, sealing a Pacific base-exclusion pact

Summary

Why it matters

The briefing, by email