Vanuatu to open new consular building in New Caledonia

Vanuatu's new consular building in New Caledonia will be opened today.

Caretaker foreign minister Ralph Regenvanu is in Noumea for the opening for the consul, Haus blong Vanuatu.

The building was bought by the Vanuatu National Provident Fund, which Mr Regenvanu says the government will pay rent to.

"It's an historic first time where we will now have a mission in a foreign country in a building owned by the people of Vanuatu which the government rents back to the people of Vanuatu," Mr Regenvanu said.

Ralph Regenvanu said he hopes to follow a similar model for all of Vanuatu's overseas missions, with a site already owned in Fiji's capital, Suva.

The caretaker prime minister, Charlot Salwai, was due to attend the opening, but his bail conditions mean he isn't allowed to leave the main island, Efate.