UK officials visit Honiara to advise Solomon Islands on implementing its National Security Strategy and strengthening coordination.
A team of officials from the UK Office of the Prime Minister were in Honiara last week to meet national security officials in the Ministry of Police, National Security and Correctional Services (MPNSCS).
The UK team were here to provide advice on how the Solomon Islands Government’s National Security Strategy (NSS) could be best implemented.
The NSS was officially launched in March 2025 under the previous government but the institutional arrangements for implementing the strategy are still to be developed.
The UK team have been providing advice and sharing experiences from the UK’s perspective.
The Minister, John Tuhaika said that a major challenge was ensuring that the Government had the right arrangements in place to deal with the increased threat from transnational organised crime, especially drugs. Lessons needed to be learnt from the problems that Fiji was now facing.
He welcomed the UK’s ideas on how best to implement the strategy.
The head of the UK team, George Bowman said that the most important issue was ensuring the different ministries and agencies of the Government were talking to each other and coordinating their approaches when confronted with a crisis.
Bowman said: “It is a question of getting the wiring of the state right now to deal with crises and threats in the future”.
British High Commissioner, Paul Turner was with the visiting UK team. Turner applauded the Government for prioritising implementation of the NSS.
He said the arrangements that the Government put in place to respond to border insecurity or transnational crime would be the same as dealing with natural disasters. It was about having a coordinated approach across the Government.
He said the UK would continue to work with Australian and New Zealand partners to help Solomons Government strengthen its capacity in national security.
The Minister and senior colleagues will now consider the recommendations that the UK team has provided.
SOURCE// British High Commission Honiara.
