Marshall Islands president Hilda Heine has highlighted infrastructure, outward migration and climate change among some of the biggest challenges facing her new administration.
President Heine was re-elected on 27 December last year for a second term as the nation's 10th president.
She becomes one of only two female leaders in the Pacific alongside Samoa's Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata'afa.
RNZ Pacific Editor Koroi Hawkins spoke with RNZ Pacific correspondent in the Marshall Islands Giff Johnson who witnessed the inauguration on Monday.