New recruits of the Vanuatu Police Force will be able to undertake their training in Papua New Guinea under a Memorandum of Understanding, MOU, between the two countries.

This is one of the benefits Vanuatu can receive through police and defence agreements with other countries in the region.

Minister of Internal Affairs, Andrew Napuat, who is responsible for the Police, has announced that new recruits of the Vanuatu Police Force will undertake their training in Papua New Guinea.

This is a result of the MOUs Vanuatu has already signed with Papua New Guinea, and more recently with Solomon Islands, with plans to sign an agreement with Fiji.

Minister Napuat made the announcement this week.

“A defence MOU that is set to be signed on the 31st will cause the training of our new recruits to happen in PNG before the end of this year, to train at the Centre of Excellence, following the agreement of the MOU, which will not be that costly to us. The government has set aside the budget, but we are working with the Melanesian countries to assist us in places that we don’t have enough resources in the budget to assist us, and this is the purpose of the MOU that has been signed.”

The Vanuatu Police Force is currently in the process of recruiting new recruits.

One of the other areas where Vanuatu and its partner countries that have signed MOUs will benefit is in maritime and border security.

“On our border with Torba Province and Solomon Island, we can have a joint patrol operation, which means Solomon Island can give a patrol boat to them with the crew, and we can provide the police officers through the maritime division that can work together. And if we sign an MOU with Fiji, we can patrol the eastern side of the country.”

Last month, Vanuatu signed an MOU with the Police in Papua New Guinea, and this month it signed an MOU with Solomon Islands.