The Pacific's moment for unity has arrived, with Australia and Fiji leading the way toward mending the region's Micronesian rupture.
Leaders from the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) gathered in Nadi on Friday to cement a deal that brings Kiribati back to the regional body.
Kiribati President Taneti Maamau - who was greeted by PIF secretary general Henry Puna with a bear hug on his arrival to the retreat - said he was delighted to "be getting back together as a family".
"We are a part of a big family. We have to keep together, to keep the solidarity of the Pacific and move forward," he said.
"In unity, we surely should succeed."
Kiribati rocked the forum last year, walking away furious at backtracking from a previous agreement to rotate the forum's leadership.
Since then, a heavy diplomatic effort - spearheaded by Canberra and Suva - has patched the rift.
Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong has made nine visits to the Pacific in as many months, coming good on an election promise to re-engage in the region.
Senator Wong has visited 16 Pacific nations, pledging aid, signing deals and arguing for Pacific unity, which supports Australia's strategic goal of sheltering the region from outsized Chinese influence.
"A strong and united Pacific Islands Forum is in all of our interests," she said in Nadi.
Senator Wong had more to announce this week on her latest trip to Kiribati and Fiji.
Australia signed an MoU with Kiribati that included the rebuild of a wharf, a patrol boat and policing support.
Heading to the retreat with Mr Maamau, Senator Wong announced $10 million in new funding for Fijian schools damaged in recent cyclones.
That was followed by an even bigger pledge of $620 million to fund health-care programs in the Pacific and Southeast Asia.
Senator Wong said the programs would include children's immunisations, access to maternity care and fighting diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
"We do better in a world where we are more secure, we do better in a region that is more stable and more secure - and part of that is health," she said.
Senator Wong ripped through a whirlwind schedule of bilateral meetings on Thursday with leaders from Tuvalu, Samoa and the Cook Islands and various Fijian ministers, with more to come on Friday.
Alongside Australia's reoriented foreign policy focus, new Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has been pivotal in pacifying Kiribati.
Mr Rabuka travelled to Kiribati last month - on an Australian defence plane - to formally apologise to the island country with a traditional Fijian ceremony seeking forgiveness.
The gesture was hugely appreciated by Mr Maamau and lauded as the breakthrough by Senator Wong, who offered her "deep appreciation" to Mr Rabuka in Nadi.
The deal that followed will result in Micronesian countries receiving new roles or offices, including a regional PIF office in Kiribati, and Nauru selecting the next secretary general.
"We're one big family. A big family and it's never going to be fractured ever again," Federated States of Micronesia President David Panuelo told AAP.
The agreement now needs to be ratified at the PIF retreat - which is easier said than done.
PIF summits run as all-day closed doors meetings, which can be unpredictable, and operating on consensus can slow proceedings.
Officials are confident the diplomatic groundwork has been done.
"Fingers crossed everything will ride smoothly tomorrow," PIF secretary general Henry Puna said on Thursday.
PENNY WONG'S PACIFIC SPRAWL: 16 COUNTRIES IN NINE MONTHS
May 2022 - Fiji
June 2022 - Samoa and Tonga; then New Zealand and Solomon Islands
July 2022 - Fiji (Pacific Islands Forum)
August 2022 - Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste
October 2022 - Marshall Islands and Nauru; then Cook Islands, Niue and French Polynesia
December 2022 - Vanuatu, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau
February 2023 - Kiribati, Fiji (Pacific Islands Forum)
