• The Blackrock Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Camp in Nadi, Fiji. Credit: Defence
    The Blackrock Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Camp in Nadi, Fiji. Credit: Defence
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The Department of Defence has signed a deal with the Fijian government on the planned upgrade of the Blackrock police and peacekeeper training camp.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will provide the framework to progress the redevelopment of the Blackrock facility. 

"Fiji and Australia have continued to work closely on the design of Blackrock Camp, situated in Nadi, to transform it into a regional hub for police and peacekeeping training and pre-deployment preparation," Defence said in a statement.

"Blackrock Camp will increase the interoperability between our security forces, enabling greater training and people-to-people links between the men and women of our nations.

"Australia and Fiji will continue to work together to finalise the design of the camp and move into the construction phase."

Australia competed with China for the Blackrock contract as part of a broader response to Beijing's increasing engagement across the region.

Fiji Military Forces’ chief staff officer for co-­ordination Captain Eroni Duaibe told media that Australia's 'holistic approach' - offering investments in both infrastructure and personnel training - was the key to its success.

"I think Australia played their cards right in terms of tabling a holistic offer. [China was] asking us to do certain parts of the development while they come in as a partner to do other developments," CAPT Duaibe said.

 

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