The director of Papua New Guinea's Foreign Service Training Program says the country increasingly sees itself as a facilitator within the Asia Pacific region.
Peter Eafeare is in New Zealand as part of the program in which PNG's Department of Foreign Affairs partners with its New Zealand counterpart ministry, and Victoria University of Wellington, to train recruits and officers from other departments.
Mr Eafeare, who is one of PNG's leading diplomats, said the aim of the program is to build the capacity of officers in the foreign service and line agencies in the foundation skills of diplomacy.
He said PNG's proximity to Asia, and its role in the Pacific, is instructive in its diplomatic development.
"We can play a role as a linkage to other member countries within the Pacific, who, outside of Australia and New Zealand, who may have an interest in how they can conduct relations with countries within the ASEAN region and beyond. But without interfering with their sovereign choices to how they would like to conduct their relations with those countries."
Picture: Papua New Guinea diplomat Peter Eafeare. Photo: RNZI / Johnny Blades