After almost two weeks in Wewak and the Pacific Partnership 23 concluded with acknowledgements, goodbyes and well wishes.

Mission Commander, U.S. Navy Captain Claudine Caluori led a team of 90 military personnel to East Sepik province to do a range of humanitarian assistance, including the restoration of a water supply system.

Other assistance programs include, tailored medical care focusing on subject-matter exchanges and community education, repairs at a local schoolhouse, and facilitated knowledge exchanges with exercises covering disaster response and humanitarian assistance.

US Chargé d’Affaires for Papua New Guinea, Katherine Monahan was at the closure of the largest annual multinational humanitarian assistance and disaster relief preparedness mission conducted in the Indo-Pacific region.

She said Pacific Partnership’s mission exemplifies USA’s partnership with Papua New Guinea as fellow Pacific countries.

“The medical care, community education, and disaster relief preparedness enabled by the Pacific Partnership’s work complements the closer cooperation that exists between our countries as a part of the U.S.-Papua New Guinea Defence Cooperation Agreement,” said Monahan

Pacific Partnership’s mission in Wewak follows a similar exercise in Kimbe last year. This year it included military personnel from Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and the United States.

The next mission will be in Fiji.