Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Japan, Hirotaka Ishihon on Tuesday 30 April, 2024, paid a courtesy call on the Minister of Defence Dr. Billy Joseph at the PNGDF headquarters in Murray Barracks.
Ishihara is a Japanese Politician and a member of the House of Representatives in the National Diet (Legislature) of Japan.
Minister Joseph thanked Ishihara for visiting Papua New Guinea and welcomed him to the Defence Force headquarters in Murray Barracks. The Minister underscored the friendly and constructive relationship between the two countries forged on trade and investment, economic and technical cooperation and people-to-people connection.
“Though our defence relationship is very young, our economic and technical cooperation as well as our people-to-people ties have been longstanding since the establishment of our Diplomatic Relations in 1975. We value our friendship and truly appreciate Japan’s ongoing capacity-building support to the PNGDF Engineering Battalion, our officer Cadet program and the provision of musical instruments and uniforms to our Military Brass Band,” Dr. Billy said.
The Minister also extended appreciation to the Government and people of Japan for providing disaster relief and humanitarian assistance to the people of Papua New Guinea affected by the recent series of natural disasters.
Ishihara appreciated the warm reception and hospitality accorded to him and his delegation during his short visit. He indicated considering increasing the slots for training allocated to the PNGDF Engineering Battalion as well as for PNGDF Cadets to undertake studies at the Defence Academy in Japan.
Minister Joseph applauded Japan’s renewed commitment to the bilateral defence relationship and said that the PNG Defence Force would continue to reach out for more training and capability enhancement programs to help the country improve its capacity to address internal security challenges as well as to meet our regional and global security obligations.