U.S., Pacific Island Police Ministers Issue Joint Communiqué

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1.The United States and Palau hosted partners responsible for police matters, including ministers and senior law enforcement leaders of Australia, the Cook Islands, Ecuador, Fiji, France together with New Caledonia and French Polynesia, Kiribati, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Naoero, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Representatives of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat and PACPOL Secretariat also attended. The inaugural U.S.-Pacific Islands Conference of Police Ministers (COPMIN) gathered in Los Angeles, California, on October 21 and 22, 2026, to address security challenges and affirm our intentions to address them to better secure the Pacific together.

2. As Pacific countries, territories, and partners working together in the region, we recognize our shared interest in a safe and secure Blue Pacific Continent. The safety, security and prosperity of our communities are central to this shared interest. Transnational criminal networks exploit our interconnected waters, borders and economies, requiring coordinated action and strong partnerships. COPMIN has provided an opportunity for Pacific countries, together with regional and international partners, to strengthen cooperation against these common threats. In pursuing these shared objectives, we reaffirm the central role of the Pacific Islands Forum in setting regional peace and security priorities, and the role of the Pacific Police Ministers Meeting in guiding regional policing efforts. Our work in the Pacific will respect national sovereignty and align with these priorities, including those set out in the Forum's Pacific Regional Peace and Security Action Plan 2026-2030, particularly on transnational organized crime and drugs

3. Methamphetamine, cocaine, and other synthetic drugs are reaching our communities in unprecedented quantities. We note that, since 2024, narcotics trafficked by Western Hemisphere cartels through the Pacific have surpassed those originating from Asia and that semi-submersible vessels used by cartels have been recovered in Fiji, the Marshall Islands, and Solomon Islands waters. These communities bear the cost in addiction, in violence, and in the corrosion of institutions.

4. Our law enforcement services have seized record quantities of cartel-linked cocaine in the past year, in operations built on information shared across borders and on trusted partnerships our officers have cultivated over years. We commend the leadership of Pacific police and the coordinated efforts of customs, immigration, maritime authorities, regional agencies and international partners in securing these outcomes.

5. We commit to strengthening maritime and border capabilities to disrupt drug trafficking and other transnational organized crime. This includes, in accordance with national laws, capacities, and consent, enhancing maritime domain awareness, and, where applicable, utilizing maritime law enforcement agreements, letters of agreement for foreign assistance, and Shiprider cooperation with the United States; strengthening port and border security; and detecting and halting illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, particularly by transnational organized crime groups.

6. We recognize the contribution of health, education, and social service agencies, together with civil society and communities in addressing the impacts of illicit drugs. We support community-based, faith-based, and evidence-based approaches to preventing drug-related harm, disrupting criminal recruitment and reducing demand for illicit drugs, and we support access to treatment, rehabilitation and reintegration, including in remote and outer island communities, consistent with our national and regional strategies and building on the outcomes of relevant regional meetings.

7. We further commit to strengthening cross-regional information sharing on trafficking routes, criminal networks, and maritime logistics in coordination with existing national and regional arrangements, consistent with national laws and agreed priorities. We welcome the cross-regional exchange convened at COPMIN with partners from Ecuador and the Philippines, and we will continue to build on these connections to advance our shared peace and security goals.

8. We will strengthen the integrity of legitimate supply chains to prevent their exploitation by criminal networks, disrupt the flow of illicit drugs, and support secure and efficient trade. We will also target the supply of precursor chemicals, equipment and materials used in illicit drug manufacture, using the full range of regulatory, enforcement and legal measures available.

9. Online scam operations target our citizens on an industrial scale. Criminal networks build and operate the compounds, platforms, and infrastructure behind cyber-enabled fraud; recruit, coerce, and traffic victims across borders; and move the proceeds of these crimes through formal and informal financial channels across jurisdictions.

10. We will increase information sharing on scam operations, criminal infrastructure, and cryptocurrency laundering, consistent with national laws, and to build the capacity of our national cyber authorities, law enforcement agencies and financial intelligence units, including those of small island states, to disrupt, detect, investigate, and prosecute these crimes as well as the corrupt officials that allow criminal networks to operate with impunity. We will work together to strengthen and implement anti-money laundering and cybercrime frameworks, consistent with national laws and capacities and supported by technical assistance where needed, and to protect Pacific access to the global financial system, in line with the Pacific Islands Forum Regional Peace and Security Action Plan 2026-2030.

11. We recognize the contributions of industry partners represented at COPMIN, and we welcome continued engagement with trusted technology providers on maritime domain awareness, financial-crime analytics, and secure digital infrastructure, consistent with national laws, procurement requirements and data governance arrangements.

12. We welcome the following:

• The United States' initiative to establish a cross-regional information-sharing mechanism connecting the Pacific Islands with the Americas and maritime Southeast Asia. This is to be developed in consultation with participants and in coordination with existing regional bodies and arrangements, including under the Forum's Pacific Regional Peace and Security Action Plan 2026-2030.
• The United States' announcement of investments to strengthen law enforcement cooperation, counter drug trafficking, and combat transnational crime, in consultation with recipient governments and in coordination with regional arrangements.

13. We commit to continuing and strengthening our enduring efforts to secure our shared Pacific region, and to work together to identify resourcing that will sustain this work.

14. This Communiqué is a statement of shared intent and is not legally binding. Forum Members will report on the outcomes of COPMIN to the Pacific Islands Forum through the relevant regional security processes.

15. We, the participants in COPMIN, commit to fighting transnational crime and strengthening maritime security in the Blue Pacific Continent to better protect all our communities from the evolving threats of today and the future.

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