Papua New Guinea had a voice at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) attended by 29 member states hosted by the People’s Republic of China.
Although PNG is not a member to the BFA, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Justin Tkatchenko, was invited as a special guest by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and State Counselor of the People’s Republic of China, His Excellency Qin Gang, to attend the Forum as well as a convening a bilateral meeting between the two Foreign Ministers.
With an aim to pool resources for the development of Asia and the world, the annual development event is organized to promote economic integration in Asia and its partner countries around the world.
Tkatchenko was part of a panel to lead on discussions on ‘Extreme Weather and Climate Change’. He stressed on the lack of commitment and effective collaboration with the industrialized countries and smaller island developing countries like PNG.
“As a developing country, PNG as a carbon emission absorber and third largest rainforest nation in the world, has been a victim of the climate change calamity which has not been a major contributor to.
“The industrialized nations must do more to assist developing and small island countries that are at the frontlines of the climate change phenomenon with financial and technical assistance to manage the climate change negatives impacts,” Minister Tkatchenko commented.
He addressed the rigid and cumbersome processes and procedures in accessing the funds from the International Organizations like Climate Funds, GGGI and others.
In addition, Minister Tkatchenko addressed the forum on the impacts of climate change and extreme weather is taking toll on lives, economies, infrastructure and affecting lifestyle of our people.
He mentioned that for PNG, it would rather opt to engage more with bilateral partners the easiest and efficient way of attending to climate change negative effects rather than going through the established multilateral mechanisms.
“PNG will be inclined towards and looked forward to working with bilateral partners like China in building capacities and capabilities in dealing with extreme weather effects and climate change impacts.”