Prime Minister John Key has arrived in the Pacific to talk fisheries, climate change and the region's economy with its leaders.

There was no formal welcome for the PM, who arrived two hours late to the Federated States of Micronesia after plane air pressure problems delayed his departure from Laos where he had attended the East Asia Summit.

The delay meant Mr Key missed the opening plenary session, but the most important talks will take place at the leaders' retreat on Saturday.
Top of the agenda will be climate change, which Mr Key himself intends to push, as well as renewable energy.

"You've got a lot of very low-lying states and so they're very focused on those issues, focused on what New Zealand's doing also what support we can give them in terms of rolling out renewable energy, adaptation of their natural environment," he said on arrival in Pohnpei, the largest of the nation's islands.

His comments came after Green Party co-leader James Shaw urged Mr Key to commit to resettling people from Pacific Islanders who face losing their homes to rising sea levels by increasing the number of work visas offered to countries like Tuvalu and Kiribati or expanding the Pacific Access Category.

"The government should prioritise creating a pathway to New Zealand residency for Pacific peoples who are at serious risk of being displaced in coming decades.

Mr Key will also follow up on $50 million pledged at last year's conference for improving management of and protecting the region's fisheries.

"Outside of fisheries, tourism's the obvious place to go. They need investment there so that's one of the big issues. Also I think they need to work out what their particular niche is. Air connectivity is always a bit of an issue," said Mr Key.

Foreign minister Murray McCully arrived earlier and has already held a number of bilateral meetings about fisheries.

Leaders from across the Pacific are in attendance at the forum, including Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill and Nauru's leader Baron Waqa.

Mr Key will hold formal bilateral meetings with both while he will also hold bilateral talks with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at an informal dinner on Friday night.

Fiji's President Frank Bainarama will not attend again this year, blaming his boycotting of the event on the "interference" of larger nations New Zealand and Australia in what he sees as a forum for small nation leaders.

Mr Key said they expected the move, and it won’t stop the slow mending of relations currently underway.

"As I said to Frank when we were over there, New Zealand isn't going anywhere when it comes to the Pacific Forum. We hope he comes back but we're here for the long haul."

But Mr Key confirmed Mr Bainamarama is working on arrangements to visit New Zealand for the Bledisloe Cup final in October.

The international community is taking a step back, and trying to let the Philippines and China work out their own solution to the South China Seas dispute.

A tribunal ruling that China has no legal right to the territory ended up as a hot topic at the East Asia Summit in Laos, which has just finished.

Mr Key said the attending countries were in agreement about the best way forward.

"That was the theme of every intervention that came through that in the end was wanting to have a ruling. It's now for the Philippines and China in the first instance to see if they can resolve the matter."