Australia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong will visit the country this Monday as part of her mission in the region.
The Minister in a statement said her visit is part of the important relationship Australia has with PNG.
“I will meet with Prime Minister the Hon. James Marape following his re-election, as well as my counterpart, the Hon. Justin Tkatchenko and other members of PNG’s new cabinet” stated Wong.
Her visit comes at an opportune time when PNG is aiming to review a number of its foreign trade policies with its partner countries, especially Australia. Recently PM Marape stated that Australia must balance its trade with PNG and buy more PNG-Made exports.
“We want to move now into industrialisation by tapping into downstream processing of our natural resources,”
“Australia and PNG businesses have had a relationship for a long time and that is good but we need to reach new heights. With Australia as a place of export for our products, we have a huge trade imbalance where we import more from Australia and export less there,” said PM Marape.
Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Wong will also have a special audience with Central Governor Rufina Peter and Rai-Coast MP Kessy Sawang – the only two women elected into the 11th Parliament.
“I look forward to hearing views from PNG’s leaders and my priority will be to ensure we are pursuing our shared ambitions on the basis of trust, open communication and mutual support,” said Minister Wong.
The Minister will leave the country on Wednesday for Timo-Leste.
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