**** Speech by Hon. Peter O’Neill CMG MP Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, At the Welcoming Dinner for the Official Visit by Hon. Toke Tufukia Talagi Premier of Niue **** Premier Talagi, Mrs. Talagi, Nuie’s delegation, State Ministers, Representatives of the Diplomatic Corps, Ladies and Gentlemen, It is a pleasure to welcome you, Premier and your delegation, to Papua New Guinea. Your visit is a significant one as it is another chapter in the relationship between our countries. This is the first time in a Premier from Niue has visited Papua New Guinea. As the elder statesman of the Pacific, we are honoured to receive you here in our National Parliament. One is the formal relationship started in 1994. But our traditional and cultural engagement was well before that – over thousands of years. Cultural exchange between our countries through our history can be difficult to traced to a couple of hundred years ago when sailing ships travelled our waters. This forged the ties of our relationship which we share today. I was pleased to learn that your nation’s forefathers sent some of their sons as one of the early missionaries to visit our land. For one of them I understand he returned to Niue with a young Hanuabadan wife. That early union between our two people provides a special historical connection. Premier, we are indeed located in one ocean, “wan solwara”, and despite thousands of nautical miles of ocean between our islands – we continue to grow closer and stronger together. Our two countries are members of the paramount body in our region - the Pacific Islands Forum. Where we meet to discuss issues that matter to our people. Through the Forum our two countries continue to strengthen regional governance issues like fisheries and agriculture, transport and key areas of sustainable development. We must continue to build on our engagement through the Pacific Islands Forum for the betterment of the lives of people throughout our region. This includes adopting the reforms presented in the Eminent Persons Group Report that is aimed at improving the work of the Forum through the Secretariat. As in all organisations reform can pose challenges and is not always popular, but with reform we can expect a stronger and more proactive Pacific Islands Forum. At the Leaders’ Meeting to be held next year, we will also welcome two new Leaders to our table. Our Brother in Fiji, Frank Bainimarama, following Fiji’s return to democracy after the elections, and the newly elected Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare. Papua New Guinea as the largest island nation in the region, we have an obligation to continue to strengthen the relationship between all of our Brother Pacific Island countries, and continue to represent them in some of the global forums like APEC. At APEC we continue to provide leadership for regional issues such as improving supply chains and regional connectivity; promoting a more inclusive economic growth; and, confronting challenges such as food security and climate change. Papua New Guinea will host the APEC process in 2018. We have responsibility to chair the APEC substantive policy development in preparation for the Leaders’ Summit at the end of 2018. Niue and the rest of the Pacific can rest assured that we will represent the region well. We must continue to be highly vocal on the issues that threaten the Pacific Island Nations. Particularly in climate change and the fluctuations in energy prices and the transmission of communicable diseases. Premier, Papua New Guinea once again states its desire to work with your government for the promotion of prosperity and the enrichment of lives of our people. With our ongoing economic development, Papua New Guinea is expanding its regional support program to help other developing Pacific nations. We are aware of the importance of the fisheries sector to your economy, as it is to ours. We look forward to working together in the development of that resources which is beneficial to the region as a whole. We have already announced a number of projects that are being undertaken around the region worth hundreds of millions of Kina. Niue will be the recipient of that support. As I have indicated to you earlier today, our Government has committed five million Kina to assist in the building of a new Parliament for Niue. I hope more Niueans will have the opportunity to visit our Papua New Guinea, to come and work, study or visit us for holidays. That is why we are also promoting the issue of regional labor mobility – which is an important issue for Papua New Guinea. The economic growth we are seeing in Papua New Guinea is bringing with it great opportunity for workers from around the region. We would like to see more Niueans come to Papua New Guinea to work and gain skills, and transfer this knowledge back to Niue to further contribute to your country’s economic development. We seek your support for both countries to open up the labour markets and allow for freer labour mobility within the region. This will enable our people, between our two countries, and of course within our region, to continue to enjoy employment and holidays freely without any difficulties. Next year Papua New Guinea will host the Pacific Games and we this will give us further opportunity further build personal bonds between our people. We hope your great athletes have great success and can take home gold medals. Our people will cheer them along. Premier, I wish you and your delegation a successful visit and pleasant stay in Papua New Guinea. I hope you enjoy your visit to Port Moresby, and I look to welcome you again to the Pacific Islands Forum next year. Thank You.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 23:23:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015