Papua New Guinea is expected to review the land boundary it shares with Indonesia’s West Papua Province.
Foreign Affairs Minister Justin Tkatchenko before travelling to Jakarta yesterday, said PNG is now able to discuss this with Indonesia after Parliament passed the Basic Border Agreement.
“The Basic Boarder Agreement which opens the way now for all parties to come on board and review the Basic Border Agreement and talk about our boundaries, talk about our trade, talk about our traditions, our culture, and our people”, said Tkatchenko.
This is the second visit to Jakarta where Tkatchenko is expected to discuss issues like the PNG Defence Force and Indonesian Defence Force Cooperation Agreement and have open discussion on the West Papua issue.
“The Foreign Minister and I will also be discussing about West Papua. And as I have stated already, Indonesia is a sovereign country, and we respect Indonesia. If there are any issues Indonesia wants us to get involved in with West Papua, we are more than happy to support,” Tkatchenko said.
Since the first visit by Minister Tkatchenko in December 2022, both Governments have been working on improving economic, security, social and traditional ties between the two countries.
In the recent Parliament Sitting, the National Executive Council also approved the Reciprocal of Rectification for Visa Exceptions for Indonesian diplomats and government officials entering both countries.
“So the green and red passports for all the secretaries, government officials that we have in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia and all the diplomats we have in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, we can travel to each country freely with visa on arrival, ” said Tkatchenko.
Tkatchenko departs Indonesia on Wednesday.
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