Papua New Guinea’s Ambassador to Japan, Sam Abal urged the PNG Government to step up and show PNG’s commitment and seriousness to its long-term friend and partner Japan.
Ambassador Abal says this commitment must be made by releasing funding making sure PNG has its pavilion and participates actively at the 2025 Osaka World Expo in Japan.
“This Expo is Japan’s premier event that will expose them to the world and they are very keen that all their traditional partners and special friends like PNG support them in this Expo. Japan is a major export market for our LNG; the trade between PNG and Japan is in our favor; Japan has supported us in times of disaster.
“Japan through JICA has delivered aid projects with a focus on quality infrastructure with recent examples being the funding of an upgrade of Port Moresby’s dilapidated sewerage treatment capability, improvements to electrical transmission networks in the Ramu grid that serves the industrial city of Lae, as well as upgrading of Nadzab and Tokua airport to international standard.
“PNG has benefited so much from its relationship with Japan and our attendance and participation at the 2025 Osaka World Expo in Japan is one chance for PNG to show its commitment to Japan,” said Ambassador Abal in his meeting with the Minister for International Trade and Investment, Richard Maru this week.
Minister Maru assured Ambassador Abal that he would be writing to the Prime Minister & Treasurer, James Marape to immediately release the funding of K5.6 million as approved by the NEC on October 31, 2023.
“Despite the NEC approving the funding of K5.6 million to enable PNG’s participation at the Expo and appointing Outgoing High Commissioner to Malaysia, His Excellency Peter Vincent as the Commissioner General, funds have still not been released. We have to show our serious commitment to our friendship and relationship with Japan by immediately releasing the funds and attending and participating in the Expo.
“We cannot go to Japan and we cannot talk to the Japanese Government until all funding that has been approved by the Government is released. We are kindly requesting the Government to release the funding this month so we can formally advise the Japanese Government of our participation and start making the preparations towards our participation at the Expo and establishing of our pavilion,” said Minister Maru.
“We also have to reaffirm our leadership in the Pacific Region by having our pavilion instead of being part of a greater South Pacific pavilion. It takes years to arrange the participation of countries at World Expos. Many countries have already started constructing their pavilions and we have not even started. We are reluctant to start because we have not received any funding,” added Minister Maru.
He added: “I want a team led by the Acting Secretary of the Department of International Trade and Investment, Jacinta Warakai-Manua to accompany Ambassador Abal to Osaka by the first week of March this year to visit the organizers and confirm our attendance and participation. This is a very important undertaking and I am determined to have the best Expo we have ever organized.”