Foreign relations of Kiribati

Kiribati is a full member of the Commonwealth, the IMF and the World Bank, and became a full member of the United Nations in 1999. Kiribati hosted the Thirty-First Pacific Islands Forum in October 2000. Kiribati has Least Developed Country Status and its interests rarely extend beyond the region. Through accession to the Lomé Convention, then Cotonou Agreement, Kiribati is also a member of the African Caribbean and Pacific Group. Kiribati maintains good relations with most countries and has particularly close ties to Pacific neighbours Japan, Australia, South Korea and New Zealand. Kiribati briefly suspended its relations with France in 1995 over that country's decision to renew nuclear testing in the South Pacific.

Kiribati established diplomatic relations with Taiwan in November 2003, but cut off all relations in September 2019 when Kiribati switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing. Taiwan's foreign minister stated that Kiribati had "unrealistic" expectations from China and ordered the embassy to evacuate.

Regional relations

Kiribati maintains strong regional ties in the Pacific. Until recently it was a full member of the Pacific Islands Forum, the South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission, the South Pacific Tourism Organisation, the Pacific Regional Environment Programme and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community. Kiribati is one of the eight signatories of the Nauru Agreement Concerning Cooperation in the Management of Fisheries of Common Interest which collectively controls 25–30% of the world's tuna supply and approximately 60% of the western and central Pacific tuna supply [1]. In 1985, Kiribati was one of the nine initial endorsers of the Treaty of Rarotonga creating the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty.

Extra-regional relations

Kiribati was admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations in 1979 upon its independence, and to the United Nations in 1999.

Additionally outside the region, Kiribati is a member or participant of the ACP (Lomé Convention), the Asian Development Bank, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the International Development Association, the International Finance Corporation, the IMF, International Maritime Organization, International Olympic Committee, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Universal Postal Union and the World Meteorological Organization. Finally, while Kiribati is not a member of the World Trade Organization, it does retain observer status.

Diplomatic relations

List of countries which Kiribati maintains diplomatic relations with:

File:Diplomatic relations of Kiribati.svg
#	Country	Date
1	Australia	Template:DTS
2	Canada	Template:DTS
3	Fiji	Template:DTS
4	Solomon Islands	Template:DTS
5	United Kingdom	Template:DTS
6	Japan	Template:DTS
7	New Zealand	Template:DTS
8	South Korea	Template:DTS
9	Netherlands	Template:DTS
10	China	Template:DTS
11	Germany	Template:DTS
12	Vanuatu	Template:DTS
13	United States	Template:DTS
14	Chile	Template:DTS
15	Malaysia	Template:DTS
16	France	Template:DTS
17	Papua New Guinea	Before Template:DTS
18	Peru	Template:DTS
19	Portugal	Template:DTS
20	Tuvalu	Template:DTS
21	Israel	Template:DTS
22	Greece	Template:DTS
23	India	Template:DTS
24	Marshall Islands	Template:DTS
25	Federated States of Micronesia	Template:DTS
26	Maldives	Template:DTS
27	Singapore	Template:DTS
28	Russia	Template:DTS
29	Bangladesh	Before Template:DTS
30	Nauru	Before Template:DTS
—	Holy See	Template:DTS
31	Palau	Template:DTS
32	Italy	Template:DTS
33	South Africa	Template:DTS
34	Philippines	Template:DTS
35	Ireland	Template:DTS
36	Morocco	Template:DTS
37	Cuba	Template:DTS
38	Switzerland	Template:DTS
39	Austria	Template:DTS
40	Thailand	Template:DTS
41	Iceland	Template:DTS
42	Mexico	Template:DTS
43	Argentina	Template:DTS
44	Czech Republic	Template:DTS
45	Turkey	Template:DTS
46	Brazil	Template:DTS
47	Egypt	Template:DTS
48	Finland	Template:DTS
49	Spain	Template:DTS
50	Gambia	Template:DTS
51	Template:Country data Georgia	Template:DTS
52	Sweden	Template:DTS
53	Indonesia	Template:DTS
—	Cook Islands	Template:DTS
54	Lithuania	Template:DTS
55	Mongolia	Template:DTS
56	Montenegro	Template:DTS
57	Kazakhstan	Template:DTS
58	Kuwait	Template:DTS
59	Monaco	Template:DTS
60	Estonia	Template:DTS
61	Vietnam	Template:DTS
62	Poland	Template:DTS
63	Latvia	Template:DTS
64	Brunei	Template:DTS
65	Qatar	Template:DTS
66	Hungary	Template:DTS
67	Croatia	Template:DTS
68	Seychelles	Template:DTS
69	Jordan	Template:DTS
70	Dominica	Template:DTS
71	Romania	Template:DTS
72	Bahrain	Template:DTS
73	Saint Lucia	Template:DTS
74	Armenia	Template:DTS
75	Tajikistan	Template:DTS
76	Norway	Template:DTS
77	Kyrgyzstan	Template:DTS
78	Nicaragua	Template:DTS
79	Andorra	Template:DTS
80	Pakistan	Template:DTS
81	Slovenia	Template:DTS
82	Paraguay	Template:DTS
83	San Marino	Template:DTS
84	Algeria	Template:DTS
85	Jamaica	Template:DTS
86	Malta	Template:DTS
87	Saudi Arabia	Template:DTS
88	Panama	Template:DTS
89	Oman	Template:DTS
90	Bulgaria	Template:DTS
91	Nepal	Template:DTS
92	Dominican Republic	Template:DTS
93	Moldova	Template:DTS
94	Guatemala	Template:DTS
95	Belgium	Unknown
96	Samoa	Unknown
97	Tonga	Unknown
98	United Arab Emirates	Unknown

Bilateral relations

Country	Formal Relations Began	Notes
Australia	12 July 1979	Australia has a high commission in Tarawa. Kiribati has an honorary consulate in Burradoo, New South Wales.
China	25 June 1980, broke off 29 November 2003. Restored 27 September 2019.	File:五月二十三日總統接見吉里巴斯總統馬茂(Taneti Maamau)伉儷乙行 (27208262585).jpg Kiribati President Taneti Mamau and Republic of China President Tsai Ing-wen in May 2016. Kiribati firstly established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1980. At that time, Kiribati had been the home to a satellite tracking base for PRC space program from 1997 until 2003. On 7 November 2003, Kiribati established diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (ROC). Although it did not sever ties with the PRC, expressing the intention to continue relations, Beijing suspended ties on 29 November after failed attempts to lobby President Anote Tong to change his mind. On 9 January 2004, the ROC opened its embassy in Kiribati. On 31 May 2013, Kiribati opened its embassy in Taipei. This was the first ever Kiribati embassy outside of Oceania. Teekoa Iuta became Kiribati's first ambassador to the country. On 20 September 2019, Kiribati switched diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China, effectively cutting all relations to Taiwan. Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said Beijing had used "dollar diplomacy" to influence the Kiribati government. On 15 July 2023, the Chinese military hospital ship “Peace Ark” made harbor at Tarawa, Kiribati, the first Chinese military vessel to visit Kiribati. The seven-day visit was to include humanitarian and medical assistance, part of China’s effort to build relationships in the region, and was to be followed by stops in Tonga, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and East Timor.
Cuba	2 September 2002	In the late 2000s, Kiribati began to strengthen its relations with Cuba. Cuba provides medical aid to Kiribati. There are currently sixteen doctors providing specialised medical care in Kiribati, with sixteen more scheduled to join them. Cuban doctors have reportedly provided a dramatic improvement to the field of medical care in Kiribati, reducing the child mortality rate in that country by 80% As of September 2008, over twenty I-Kiribati medical students are studying in Cuba, at Cuba's expense. In September 2008, President Anote Tong attended the first Cuba-Pacific Islands ministerial meeting in Havana. By meeting President Raúl Castro to discuss "mutual friendship and cooperation", he became the first Pacific leader to pay a state visit to Cuba. The two countries signed an agreement on increased cooperation in the field of health.
France	3 December 1982, broke off 6 September 1995, Restored 6 February 1997	The two countries maintain official diplomatic relations, but no diplomatic presence on each other's territory; the French embassy in Suva is accredited to Kiribati. In 1995, Kiribati briefly suspended its diplomatic relations with France in protest against French nuclear tests at Mururoa in French Polynesia.
Template:Country data Georgia	28 September 2012	Georgia is accredited to Kiribati from its embassy in Canberra, Australia.
Germany	1 July 1980	German shipping companies opened a trade school for seamen in 1967. It exists until today. About I-Kiribati 5,000 seaman work for German shipping companies today. Kiribati has an honorary consul in Hamburg. Germany has no embassy in Tarawa. The German embassy in Wellington is accredited for Kiribati.
India	6 August 1985	Diplomatic relations between Kiribati and India were established on 6 August 1985. At the Post Forum Dialogue partner meeting in 2006, India announced that it would provide a grant-in-aid of US$100,000 annually to each of the 14 Pacific Island countries, including Kiribati. This was increased to US$125,000 from 2009.
Mexico	13 October 2005	Kiribati does not have an accreditation to Mexico. Mexico is accredited to Kiribati from its embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
New Zealand	12 July 1979	Kiribati has an honorary consulate in Wellington. New Zealand has a high commission in Tarawa.
South Korea	2 May 1980	The Republic of Kiribati and the Republic of Korea have established diplomatic relations on May 2, 1980. Kiribati and South Korea have nice diplomatic relations and others things.
United Kingdom	12 July 1979	Kiribati established diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom on 12 July 1979 Kiribati does not maintain a high commission in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is not accredited to Kiribati through a high commission; the UK develops relations through its high commission in Suva, Fiji. The UK governed Kiribati from 1892 until 1979, when Kiribati achieved full independence. Both countries share common membership of the Commonwealth, the International Criminal Court and the United Nations. Bilaterally the two countries have a Double Taxation Agreement.
United States	12 August 1980	Following its independence in 1979, Kiribati signed a treaty of friendship with the United States. The United States Department of State characterizes U.S.–Kiribati relations as "excellent", since 2009Template:Dated maintenance category (articles). Diplomatic relations are conducted by the I-Kiribati Ambassador to the United States. Although the U.S. does not maintain a diplomatic office or consulate in Kiribati, staff from the American embassy in Suva, Fiji make frequent visits to Kiribati. The U.S. provides economic development assistance through multilateral institutions. From 1967 to 2008, the United States Peace Corps operated in Kiribati.

Aid & Development

Kiribati receives development aid from the European Union, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Canada, USA, the Asian Development Bank, UN agencies and (until 2019) Taiwan. In recent years it has accounted for 20–25% of Kiribati's GDP. Recent projects and notable inputs by the EU have included telecommunications (improvement of telephone exchanges and provision of radio and navigation equipment), the development of seaweed as an export crop, solar energy systems for the outer islands, the upgrading of the Control Tower and fire fighting services at Tarawa's Bonriki International Airport, outer island social development, health services and extensive support for the Kiribati Vocational Training Programme. Additionally, Cuba provides doctors, as well as scholarships for I-Kiribati medical students.

See also

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration
• List of diplomatic missions in Kiribati
• List of diplomatic missions of Kiribati

External links

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration Template:Webarchive
• Government of Kiribati Climate Change portal
• Tarawa Climate Change Conference website