The Commander of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces, Ro Jone Kalouniwai, officially opened the Pacific Defence Faith Network forum at Black Rock Camp on March 23, 2026, marking a new strand of regional defence engagement that links spiritual leadership with security cooperation. The forum, held in association with the South Pacific Defence Ministers Meeting, brings together defence personnel and faith leaders from across the Pacific to explore how spirituality can inform leadership, morale and regional collaboration.
This year’s forum, themed “Deep Roots,” places emphasis on faith-based engagement as a complement to technical and operational training. In his opening remarks Major General Kalouniwai said spiritual grounding is vital to developing “responsible and resilient” leaders, and he urged chaplains, officers and defence representatives to take an active role in mentoring emerging leaders. He described the network’s potential to grow into a “spiritual sanctuary” — a space for character strengthening that, he argued, would reinforce cooperation among Pacific defence institutions.
Kalouniwai stressed that shared identity, common values and faith traditions across Pacific island nations can help bind defence communities together amid an increasingly complex security environment. He said personnel deployed across the region should carry professional readiness alongside a deeper sense of purpose, suggesting that moral and ethical foundations are central to sustaining pride, stability and trust within and between services.
The faith network represents a new dimension in Fiji’s broader push on leadership development. Over the past year the Republic of Fiji Military Forces have rolled out programmes such as the Veiliutaki leadership courses aimed at building self-awareness and practical command skills. The Pacific Defence Faith Network does not replace those technical efforts but seeks to complement them by addressing moral formation, pastoral support and peer mentorship as part of holistic leader development.
Delegates at the Black Rock Camp forum include military chaplains, senior officers and civilian defence representatives from across the Pacific. Organisers say sessions will focus on mentorship models, chaplaincy best practice, and ways faith-based perspectives can support mental resilience, ethical decision-making and cohesive regional response—areas that have been priorities in recent regional defence discussions, including humanitarian assistance and peacekeeping cooperation.
As regional defence cooperation intensifies, organisers and attendees framed the forum as timely: addressing not only tactical and strategic capacities but also the values that underpin leadership and inter-state trust. By formalising a space for faith-led engagement alongside ministerial talks, Fiji and its Pacific partners are signalling an interest in embedding moral and spiritual dimensions into how defence personnel are formed and supported across the region.
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