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| Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop with PNGs Foreign Minister |
The Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop met with the PNG Foreign Minister Rimbink Pato in a bilateral meeting at APEC.
The meeting with Minister Bishop was Rimbink Pato’s first in several bilateral meets.
Both PNG and Australia had to get a number of issues right since the new Abbott government took over from Kevin Rudd after the recent Australian Federal elections.
Several of Rudd’s undertaking that the back end of his reign had to be revisited. Among them; the Angau Hospital in Lae, Police assistance from Australia, the Highlands Highway, Manus, and others to name a few.
What was new for the Abbott Government was Ok Tedi.
Minister Bishop was quick to raise that with Minister Pato. She expressed at the signal the O’Neill government has sent out to investors.
Minister Pato in an assertive response said the government took control of Ok Tedi to ensure a win-win outcome for the investors as well as resource owners.
He said a parliament and even a court decision endorsed that.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister O’Neill arrived in Bali on the falcon over the weekend accompanied by his wife Madam Linda Babao, Enga Governor Peter Ipatas, Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Bill Dihm and the Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister, Isaac Lupari.
Like the other twenty one APEC leaders, Mr. O’Neill engages in private sector discussions, sustainable development, equity and connectivity.
It’s a compact two days where Mr. O’Neill will conclude by formally announcing Papua New Guinea’s undertaking to host and chair APEC in 2018.
The organisations significance and relevant increases as member countries realise their economies are integrated.
They can have a common check point to ensure growth, removing barriers to trade, encourage investments and support this year’s theme of ‘Resilient Asian Pacific Engine of Global Growth.