Australia and Vanuatu set to sign watered-down Nakamal Agreement in Canberra

Australia and Vanuatu are expected to sign the Nakamal Agreement in Canberra later today, bringing an end to months of negotiations over a strategic pact that was delayed by sovereignty concerns. The agreement is being signed by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Vanuatu Prime Minister Jotham Napat. It comes almost 10 months after Mr Napat pulled out of a planned signing ceremony in Port Vila.

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The revised pact has been watered down from an earlier version that was initially approved in a ceremony at Mount Yasur in Vanuatu last year. According to the supplied material, the most significant change is the removal of clauses that would have limited third-party involvement in critical infrastructure such as ports, airports and telecommunications. Those clauses had been framed around blocking involvement that could affect either country or the region's security interests.

The updated agreement is also expected to reaffirm Vanuatu's existing laws, which state that critical infrastructure will remain free from militarisation. A Vanuatu government source said the compromise still enshrined Australia as the country's main security and policing partner, while not preventing Vanuatu from engaging with other countries. The same source said Vanuatu would be willing to come to Australia first on critical infrastructure needs, although it is not clear whether that wording appears in the final text.

The signing matters because it reflects the balance Pacific governments are trying to strike between security cooperation and sovereignty. Australia has been seeking to deepen its strategic role in the region, while Vanuatu has been careful to preserve room for its own foreign policy choices. The removal of the third-party restriction suggests both sides were willing to compromise to secure an agreement, but also that the pact remains sensitive in a wider regional context.

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The negotiations have been prolonged and, at times, acrimonious, according to the supplied report. The original version of the Nakamal Agreement was given initial approval in a high-profile ceremony at Mount Yasur, an active volcano, before the process stalled. Mr Napat later withdrew from the planned Port Vila signing, citing sovereignty concerns, which underlines how politically delicate the deal has been from the outset.

The agreement also sits within a broader pattern of Pacific island states weighing infrastructure, policing and security partnerships alongside their relationships with multiple external partners. The supplied material indicates that the compromise version no longer seeks to block engagement with other countries, which suggests Vanuatu has pushed back against language it saw as too restrictive. For Australia, the pact would formalise a security and policing partnership that officials have been trying to secure for months.

A version of the updated agreement was leaked on a Facebook group in Vanuatu the day before the expected signing, and a government spokesperson did not deny that the document was genuine. However, the spokesperson said it was not the final version, leaving some uncertainty over the exact wording that will be signed in Canberra. What remains to be seen is whether the final text includes the reported language about Vanuatu coming to Australia first on critical infrastructure needs, and how both governments present the deal after the ceremony.

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