Anthony Albanese will touch down in Papua New Guinea's capital today; the first Australian prime minister to visit the country in more than four years.
Key points:
- Australia and PNG hope to strengthen ties during Anthony Albanese's two-day visit
- Security has become a key focus for the region after China and Solomon Islands signed a defence pact
- Australian aid remains contentious among some Papua New Guineans concerned about debt levels and corruption
Australian flags have been hoisted across Port Moresby, and Mr Albanese's face has been put up on billboards, alongside PNG Prime Minister James Marape's.
At a time when Australia is keen to strengthen ties and push the two nations' "special relationship", COVID-19 and elections in both countries have delayed a top-level visit until now.
Mr Albanese has a busy two-day schedule, which will include giving an address to PNG's parliament — the first foreign leader to ever do so.
"That is an extraordinary honour for Australia and one I regard as … one of the great honours of my life," Mr Albanese told journalists yesterday.
The prime minister will use the speech to reflect on PNG's journey of independence from Australian colonial rule, saying independence "was not Australia's gift to give" but "the people of Papua New Guinea's right to assert".
"Australia and Papua New Guinea are bound not just by a shared past and a shared border but by a common determination to shape our own futures," Mr Albanese will say.
"As two big Pacific Ocean states, Australia and PNG must work as equals with our fellow Pacific states to build a stronger, safer, more secure region."
It will also be Mr Marape's first time hosting an Australian leader since he took on the top job in 2019.
PNG Foreign Affairs Minister Justin Tkatchenko said that with the new Australian government, PNG sees a "brighter light" and expects "more partnership", which he believes will make the relationship "bigger and better than it has been before".
"The prime minister [James Marape] is keen to improve and enhance the relationship with Australia under the leadership of the [new] prime minister of Australia," he said.
"So, it's all about strengthening ties, building independent economic capacity for Papua New Guinea [and] strengthening our security in the region."
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Story first published on ABC News