Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka has called for the Pacific Ocean to be declared an "Ocean of Peace".
"For us in the Blue Pacific, history may be calling," Rabuka told diplomats, Fijian community members, academics and policymakers at a function organised by the Australian think-tank, Lowy Institute on Tuesday.
"It might be our manifest destiny to carry banners for peace and speak out for harmony in our time, and forever."
Rabuka said he wants the proposal on a 'Pacific Peace Zone' to be discussed at the 52nd Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting next month.
Lowy Institute Pacific Islands Program director Dr Meg Keen said a "Pacific conflict-free zone" could manifest as a declaration of sorts.
"It would be about partnerships and alliances and processes, I don't think he is envisioning laws, legal obligations or a treaty like approach," Dr Keen said.
To turn his vision into a reality, Rabuka said "more extensive" discussion around the Pacific being an ocean of peace is needed.
Forum members have "sovereign rights" to over 32 million square kilometres of the Blue Pacific, Rabuka said.
"That is only slightly smaller than the combined land areas of Russia, China and the United States."
In his speech, he also touched on the Russia-Ukraine war, the China-Taiwan conflict, the US-China struggle for influence, and the Israel-Palestine war.
"The planet might be on the edge of something terrible," he said.
Rabuka recounted the perilous journey home for Fijians stranded in the war zone, describing the repatriation as "historic, daring and well planned".
Among those rescued on the Fiji Airways flight were pilgrims from New Zealand, Samoa, Canada, America, the Philippines and Australia.
"Fiji had fulfilled its role as a world citizen," he said.