To mark an era of closer development cooperation, Papua New Guinea’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rimbink Pato, and the Director-General of the Pacific Community, Dr Colin Tukuitonga, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Thursday.
The people of Papua New Guinea stand to benefit from the new agreement between their government and the Pacific region’s principal scientific and technical organisation which will strengthen ties to address the country’s complex development challenges in a more holistic way.
“This agreement is based on a genuine spirit of collaboration in which our government and the Pacific Community will seek to complement one another’s efforts more and embrace the contributions of other partners to achieve development outcomes that will assist the people who need it most,” Minister Pato said.
The Pacific Community (SPC) and the government are putting their main emphasis on improving service delivery, developing new policies aimed at achieving sustainable development and helping Papua New Guinea to prepare for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr Tukuitonga said the agreement includes work already under way between SPC and the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) concentrated on capacity building support in coastal fisheries, agriculture and development statistics.
“I’m delighted we’re launching a new chapter of closer development cooperation with a valued member of the Pacific Community family,” Dr Tukuitonga said during a signing ceremony at the Pacific Island Forum Leader’s meeting in Port Moresby.
“We’re committed to assisting Papua New Guinea to make transformational progress in achieving their national development goals by drawing upon SPC’s expertise.
“This means you will see much more of SPC on-the-ground in Papua New Guinea, driving a work programme backed by our deep knowledge and experience of the Pacific context,” he said.
The MoU reflects Papua New Guinea’s development priorities as set out in the National Strategy for Responsible Sustainable Development and the Medium Term Development Plan 2, 2016-2017.
Papua New Guinea is among the Pacific Island countries and territories that benefit from SPC’s diverse development expertise.
For instance, SPC has provided extensive technical assistance to the National Fisheries Authority for oceanic and coastal fisheries management activities, ranging from tuna tagging to data analysis training, as well as aquaculture projects such as investigating the commercial potential of a giant river prawn species and improving the Nago Island Mariculture Facility.