Australia and Papua New Guinea (PNG) yesterday signed a security agreement that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his counterpart, James Marape, said showed the closeness of the two nations.
The deal is designed to bolster Papua New Guinea’s internal security through more assistance in policing, defense and the judiciary as the Pacific islands’ largest nation seeks to develop its economy.
Amid strategic competition between China and the US in the region, PNG in May signed a defense deal with the US to upgrade its military bases, and is boosting trade ties with China.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Marape told a press conference with Albanese in Canberra that the agreement with Australia showed they were “brother and sister nations,” but added that PNG would not pick sides and had a foreign policy of “friends to all.”
Albanese said the deal “will make it easier for Australia to help PNG address its internal security needs and for Australia and Papua New Guinea to support each other’s security and the region’s stability.”
He paid tribute to the support PNG’s population gave to Australian service members during World War II, and said it was a defense relationship forged through sacrifice.
“For our interests going forward, we have no closer friends than Papua New Guinea,” Albanese said.
PNG’s judiciary, public service and borders were established by Australia before PNG became an independent nation 48 years ago, Marape said.
“You have always given support to us. What happens up north of your borders has deep, deep shared effect, benefit, consequences, on our region,” he added.
Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy told the Australian Broadcasting Corp Australia would spend A$200 million (US$131 million) on police training and infrastructure to help PNG double its police force to 10,000 officers.
Australian and other Commonwealth nation police will be hired by PNG to fill gaps in about 50 police management roles on short-term contracts.
The agreement says that enhancing PNG’s capabilities contributes to “Pacific-led regional security and stability,” and that the two nations will prioritize consultations with each other on PNG’s need for security-related equipment, infrastructure and training.
As China has sought to boost its security presence in the Pacific islands, signing deals to equip and train police in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, where it is a large infrastructure lender, Australia has said security should be provided by Pacific countries.
The Australia-PNG deal says the two nations would consult if there is a threat to peace in the Pacific or an external armed attack on either party.
Conroy said it was “very strong” language that was comparable to commitments in Australia’s security alliance with the US.
The deal also covers classified information sharing, critical infrastructure, cyber, maritime and aviation security, and health.
POLITICAL PRISONERS VS DEPORTEES: Venezuela’s prosecutor’s office slammed the call by El Salvador’s leader, accusing him of crimes against humanity Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele on Sunday proposed carrying out a prisoner swap with Venezuela, suggesting he would exchange Venezuelan deportees from the US his government has kept imprisoned for what he called “political prisoners” in Venezuela. In a post on X, directed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Bukele listed off a number of family members of high-level opposition figures in Venezuela, journalists and activists detained during the South American government’s electoral crackdown last year. “The only reason they are imprisoned is for having opposed you and your electoral fraud,” he wrote to Maduro. “However, I want to propose a humanitarian agreement that
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Young women standing idly around a park in Tokyo’s west suggest that a giant statue of Godzilla is not the only attraction for a record number of foreign tourists. Their faces lit by the cold glow of their phones, the women lining Okubo Park are evidence that sex tourism has developed as a dark flipside to the bustling Kabukicho nightlife district. Increasing numbers of foreign men are flocking to the area after seeing videos on social media. One of the women said that the area near Kabukicho, where Godzilla rumbles and belches smoke atop a cinema, has become a “real
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
RSS