papua new guinea

The comments were made at an Australian senate inquiry into Canberra's aid programme in PNG.

The PNG country program director, Curt von Boguslawski, says the rate of stunting in babies, caused by malnutrition which hampers the development of the brain, is at nearly 50 per cent, one of the highest rates in the world.

He says the under-five mortality rate is 61 in every 1000 live births, and one in every 120 expecting mothers will die during childbirth.

The finalists for the prestigious industry award were unveiled last week at the sixth edition of Seafood Expo Asia in Hong Kong. Dawn Martin, President of SeaWeb, was joined by Suzanne Gendron, Director of the Ocean Park Foundation in Hong Kong and a 2016 Seafood Champion Awards Judge, to make the announcement to a crowd of seafood industry professionals and media.

The leaders of Tuvalu, Papua New Guinea and Fiji have expressed hope that Mr Turnbull, who was this week sworn in as prime minister after ousting Tony Abbott as Liberal Party leader, could be a champion for Pacific countries battling rising sea levels and intensifying weather systems.

The change in Canberra came a week after the Pacific Islands Forum meeting highlighted a growing chasm between the Pacific countries and Australia and New Zealand on the issue of climate change.

In a speech to the Australia-PNG Business Council,Abbott said a key focus of his meeting with  O’Neil was on how to use Australian expertise to make Port Moresby safer.

“I’m disappointed that our 73 police have not been more operational,” he said. “You won’t be surprised to learn that one of the principal subjects that Prime Minister O’Neill and I discussed earlier this morning was making them as operational as possible.”

“PNG has many opportunities but all of those opportunities will be better maximised if we can have as harmonious and tranquil a society as possible.”

And already, the host country Papua New Guinea has refused entry for West Papuan activist, Benny Wenda, an indication of the controversy that surrounds the issue ahead of the 46th annual summit of Pacific Leaders in Port Moresby.

In Fiji, the Secretary General of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, Octovanius Mote was ‘quietly’ asked to leave the meeting of the Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF).

The new product designed and developed using cultural themes of Papua New Guinea by the Arts & Design Strand of the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG) will be officially launched on the 11th of September at the university’s Ulli Beier Building.

The product called Kumul Fonts (KF), formerly Fantasy Fonts (FF), was developed as a project initiated by the Strand to promote Papua New Guinea culture through the modernisation of cultural themes and distribute worldwide.

There are about eight Fijian businesses currently in PNG.

PNG/Fiji Business Council Chair Nauzab Fareed says they want others to follow suit.

“If they have a clear manufacturing or business plan, I’m sure that they can go to PNG and take it to the next level. During the last 12 months we have assisted at least three to four firms to explore the PNG market and to understand whether it is possible for them to make investments’’.

Cook Islands won the biennial event two years ago but will not defend their title, choosing to focus their limited resources on November's Olympic Sevens Qualifier.

Newcomers American Samoa open proceedings against Solomon Islands at Sir Hubert Murray Stadium, followed by hosts Papua New Guinea against Tahiti, in the first round of matches.

The General Manager of Rugby PNG, Frank Genia, says pride and silverware aren't the only things on up for grabs.

It was carved more than a century ago from a single piece of wood in a remote Papua New Guinea village. It has never been seen in Australia before.

Curator of Pacific Art Crispin Howarth said, “There are only 10 or 15 of these known in the world and this is the most fantastic.”

It had “aspects of male and female" to it and was collected in 1959 by an Australian patrol officer, he said.

The cult crocodile was carved from a single piece of wood without the use of metal tools and dates back more than a century.

In his recent visit to Port Moresby to present his credentials to the Governor General Grand Chief Sir Michael Ogio, Ahlberger said Papua New Guinea and Sweden had a shared commitment to the UN and it was essential that the voices of small island developing states in the Pacific region were heard in the UN climate change negotiations.

“Climate change is the challenge of our time; it is a top priority for the Government of Sweden and cooperative responses are needed,” Ahlberger said.