By Laura McQuillan
Prime Minister John Key will make a major announcement on New Zealand's aid to the Pacific region on Thursday (local time), targeted at fisheries, where the tuna catch is worth about $2.4 billion annually.
Mr Key and other regional leaders are continuing Pacific Island Forum discussions at a retreat on the remote island of Aitutaki.
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard rushed back to Canberra from the Cook Islands on Wednesday night following the news that five soldiers had been killed in two separate incidents in Afghanistan.
Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs and Foreign Affairs Richard Marles remains in her place.
The retreat is a chance for leaders to bond and talk politics and policy, before making the closing remarks of the forum - with the main topics of discussion oceans preservation and Fiji's outsider status.
Fiji has been suspended from the forum since 2009, and while some Pacific Islands are pushing for its reinstatement, New Zealand and Australia are standing firm on a requirement for Fiji to hold democratic elections in 2014 before it can return.
Mr Key said Pacific nations are concerned about foreign countries and companies poaching a catch worth about $500 million annually.
"For a set of countries that are not wealthy, where their single biggest resource is fish and particularly tuna, then we need to do everything we can to both preserve their economic rights, and also maintain their stocks."
It wouldn't be the leaders' retreat without the annual "silly shirts" photo - the leaders will wear locally-made and painted tropical shirts for the retreat's official photograph before returning to Rarotonga on Thursday evening.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is on her way to Rarotonga for the post-forum dialogue on Friday, and will hold a bilateral meeting with Mr Key, where wider international affairs - including New Zealand's recent losses in Afghanistan - will be on the agenda.
Clinton will be the most senior US official to ever attend the forum and her appearance comes as part of an American effort to increase its diplomatic ties with the Pacific.
NZN / 3 News