Minister: PNG, China must strengthen bond

National

By OGIA MIAMEL
CHINA and PNG have enjoyed a long friendship which must continue to strengthen their bilateral relationship, says Foreign Affairs Minister Rimbink Pato.
Pato said during the celebration of the 68th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China last Thursday in Port Moresby that PNG continued to benefit from China’s development and financial assistance in health, education, infrastructure development, and overall economic development.
“Many countries have invested in PNG, but the People’s Republic of China is the investor who we are deeply grateful to,” Pato said.
“China continues to support PNG’s development aspirations. We expect to grow our bilateral relationship through trade, investment, and people-to-people contact.”
Chinese ambassador Xue Bing said China enjoyed close exchanges with PNG in trade, investment, energy, infrastructure, agriculture and fishery.
“Papua New Guinea has become the second largest trading partner and largest investment destination for China among all the Pacific Islands countries having diplomatic relations with China,” he said.