Prime Minister Hon. James Marape will be attending various engagements abroad in September, starting with the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) IN New York.
This is an annual Summit of Leaders from the UN Member States who will gather in New York to address the UNGA on the implementation of various UN Declarations, Agreements and Conventions.
As a member of the UNGA, Mr Marape will represent Papua New Guinea and deliver the Country Statement on September 23, 2022.
His Statement will basically shed some light on PNG’s implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to date, climate change, challenges of mitigating COVID-19, economic recovery and others.
Immediately after that, he will meet with Australian Prime Minister, Hon. Anthony Albanese, for bilateral talks in Brisbane on September 25, 2022.
Following the bilateral talks, both Leaders will travel in a Royal Australian Air Force aircraft to Tokyo, Japan, to witness the funeral of the late Shinzo Abe, former Prime Minister of Japan, on September 27, 2022.
His attendance at the funeral is in acknowledgement of the late Abe’s close relationship with PNG.
The late Abe, during his tenure as Prime Minister, ensured that Japan provided ongoing development assistance to PNG.
This included Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) funding of key development projects such as the rehabilitation of Nadzab and Tokua airports to world-class.
PM Marape’s final leg of overseas engagements before he returns home will be to Washington DC, where he will attend the first-ever US-Pacific Islands Countries Leaders’ (PICS) Summit with President Joe Biden from September 28-29.
Issues to be discussed include climate change, illegal unreported and unregulated fishing, COVID-19, economic recovery and how the US and PICs can address these issues for mutual outcomes.
On behalf of PNG, PM Marape will be raising the issues on focus on economy, trade and investment in that meeting, consistent with his call for USA and others to buy more PNG products instead of having just political relationships.