Australia and Tuvalu have signed an agreement under which Australia will provide refuge to residents of this Pacific Island state, whose territory may be completely flooded due to global warming, writes TASS.
“The agreement concerns [the countries' relations] in three main areas: climate change, citizen mobility and security. We will be issuing 280 special visas to Tuvaluans each year to enable them to come to Australia to live, work and study”, - Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
In addition, Australia will invest 350 million Australian dollars (222,6 million USD) in the development of climate infrastructure in the region and will direct 75 million Australian dollars (47,7 million USD) to a program to assist rural areas of the Pacific Island states.
Tuvalu is an island state with an area of 30 square kilometers with a population of about 12 thousand people, located in the southwestern part of the Pacific Ocean.
According to UN experts, due to global warming and rising sea levels, the islands belonging to Tuvalu will completely submerge between 2050 and 2070, but they will become uninhabitable much earlier.