Australia will open up residency to thousands of Pacific Islanders, forced out of their low-lying nation by climate change, in a landmark agreement.

The special visa for the 11,000 residents of Tuvalu was announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Tuvalu counterpart, Kausea Natano, at the Pacific Islands Forum on Friday.

Under the agreement, initiated at the request of the island nation, residents of Tuvalu will be entitled to a special visa allowing them to live, study and work in Australia.

“[This is] without doubt the most significant agreement between Australia and a Pacific island nation ever. Ever,” Albanese said.

“Quite clearly, this is a ground-breaking agreement and the Australia- Tuvalu union will be regarded as a significant day in which Australia acknowledged that we are part of the Pacific family.

“With that comes responsibility, to act on a gracious request from our friends in Tuvalu and step up the relationship between our two nations.”

The bilateral treaty announced on Friday covers three main areas of cooperation – climate change, human mobility and security.

“Australia commits to provide assistance to Tuvalu in response to a major natural disaster,” Albanese said.

Under the deal, Australia will have a dedicated intake of up to 280 people annually, known as a special mobility pathway. It will allow Tuvalans to live, work and study here.

Australia will also contribute an additional $16.9 million for a project to expand Tuvalu’s main islands by about 6 per cent.

Tuvalu, which consists only of three islands and six scattered low-lying atolls, has become a symbol for the human impact of global warming.

The world’s fourth-smallest nation faces being completely swallowed up by rising sea levels within 50 years. No part of its territory is more than five metres above sea level.

Albanese spoke of Tuvalu’s “special circumstances, as a low-lying nation that is particularly impacted, its very existence by the threat of climate change”.

“That is why we are assisting on adaptation but we are also providing the security that these guarantees represent for the people of Tuvalu, who want to preserve their culture, want to preserve their very nation,” he said.

Albanese has also held formal bilateral talks with the leaders of Kiribati and the Cook Islands on the sidelines of the PIF, as well as informal discussions with other leaders from Nauru, Samoa, Tonga and the Federated States of Micronesia.

All nations are threatened by climate change.

Under the agreement signed with Tuvalu, its residents will have to apply for a visa to come to Australia. But they will also have special rights.

Anthony Albanese with Tuvalu PM Kausea Natano after the signing of Friday’s agreement. Photo: AAP

Natano said the agreement would be transformative for his nation.

“I wish to express my heartfelt appreciation for the unwavering commitment that our friends from Australia have demonstrated towards out Australia-Tuvalu union,” he said.

“This partnership stands as a beacon of hope, seeking to find not just a milestone but a giant leap forward in our joint mission to ensure regional
stability, sustainability and prosperity. The dedication of Australia to supporting the people of Tuvalu goes beyond words and it has touched our hearts profoundly.”

The PIF was rocked earlier on Friday by the departure of Nauru President David Adeang. He had travelled to Cook Islands for the summit, but threw a diplomatic fit on Thursday (AEDT), choosing not to accompany his counterparts to Friday’s all-important leaders retreat.

“They’re not here and they have their reasons,” Palau President Surangel Whipps Jr said.

The Micronesian state walked out of a plenary meeting on Thursday when its controversial choice to be the next PIF secretary general, Baron Waqa, was raised.

Attempts to coax Adeang back inside the tent failed. The Nauru delegation flew out from the Cook Islands on Friday morning, as reported by TVNZ.

Albanese joined the remaining leaders to spend the day on a boat on Aitutaki’s luminescent lagoon, discussing the region’s issues in private before the afternoon’s major announcement.

The PIF summit has also been hit by the non-attendance of leaders from four of the biggest six members: New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, which sent ministers.

-with AAP