Rimbink Pato

Wapanamanda in Enga Province, and Mul-Baiyer in Western Highland Province both signed up on April 16^th to partner the NID office to register locals and distribute NID cards.

The MOU signing was attended by Minister for Planning and Monitoring, Sam Basil, Wapenamanda MP, Rimbink Pato, and Mul-Baiyer MP, Koi Trappe.

Wapenamanada And Mul-Baiyer are the 23^rd and 24^th Districts respectively to put their hands up to join the roll out of the NID program.

Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister, Rimbink Pato, called on his counterparts from the other 20 APEC economies to make inclusiveness the underlying principle to enable a more meaningful meeting.

Minister Pato said today’s 30^th Ministerial Meeting is a culmination of all the lead up meetings held during the year that recognised the current challenges to the multilateral trading system.

The 7000-ton Perekop training ship is loaded with 200 cadets and armed with anti-submarine rockets and anti-aircraft guns. It will arrive in Port Moresby on Wednesday and stay until Saturday, Russian state media reported, quoting Russia’s navy spokesman Igor Dygalo.

The ship is on a two-month long mission that began in April and has included stopovers in Europe and Sri Lanka. Russia’s ministry of defence said the aim of the mission was to conduct exercises to train cadets in navigation.

Minister Pato was the special envoy of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill at a meeting of Pacific leaders with the President in Noumea.

President Macron led the discussion on a wide range of regional and global issues, including climate change and biodiversity.

Minister Pato told the French leader that the Pacific welcomed his statement in Sydney last week affirming the commitment of France to a rules-based international order.

This is the second day of a three-day official bilateral visit to PNG.

The official visit to Kavieng will include discussions on bilateral trade and investment opportunities for the province.

The Australia Minister, who arrived in Port Moresby yesterday, had a meeting with Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Pato and discussed the status of the First Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM1), stating it was successful.

Bishop says the status of PNG hosting the APEC summit in November this year is very important for the region.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Rimbink Pato, announced in Parliament last week that the team comprising of Government officials will be visiting Wellington this month to look into the matter and report back.

This follows the announcement by Prime Minister Peter O’Neill in January this year of an investigation into the sale of the property during the residence.

Pato confirmed in Parliament last week that the residence was sold on November 13^th 2014 for some NZ$800,300 (K1.5 million) with proceeds deposited into a trust account.

Gianluca Rampolla officially takes up his post in-country.

During the meeting, Rampolla and Pato discussed prospects for deepening the strategic partnership between the Government of Papua New Guinea and the United Nations in realising the Sustainable Development Goals as well as national development and peacebuilding priorities.

“It was a great honour to meet with Mr. Rimbink Pato and to present him with the Letter of Credentials from the UN Secretary-General, appointing me as the UN resident coordinator in Papua New Guinea,” Rampolla said.

In a February 1 meeting with his Australian counterpart, Minister Julie Bishop, Minister Rimbink Pato said Papua New Guinea fully respected the sacred nature of the last resting place of the young sailors, which was only recently discovered.

The submarine was Australia’s first submarine HMAS AE1. Its recovery puts an end to a 103-year maritime mystery.

According to Australia’s Navy Daily, the submarine went missing on the 14th of September 1914 with all personnel on board.

He expressed his deepest sympathy, towards the Chief Justice after he was viciously attacked criminals on the Stak road in Wapenamanda, Enga  Province on Monday 8th January, 2018.

“I condemn in the strongest possible terms the use of criminal violence against anybody, but in particular against one of the most respected citizens of our great country,” said Pato.

He said those who commit such crimes against public officials must face the full rigor of the law.

“But rather, it wanted to assist the peace process by bringing the Palestinians to the peace without the distraction of the issue of the capital city.”

The Minister was responding to a recent Loop PNG article on PNG being one of the 128 United Nations member countries who voted to reject US’ move to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

“Papua New Guinea is a good friend of the USA, and did not join in the attacks on USA at the recent WTO, but showed some positive points to part of USA's policy,” stated Pato.