300 ‘brightest’ youths hired for Apec roles

THE Government has recruited more than 300 of the country’s “brightest” young citizens to be involved in the preparation for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says.
“This year we are going to host Apec. We have recruited some of the brightest young people (300-plus) to play a role in the hosting of the Apec,” he said.
“These young Papua New Guineans are in their 20s and will continue to play a role in foreign affairs, international trade, commerce. This is where we want to provide opportunities for them.”
O’Neill was accompanied by Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop to the opening of three buildings in Port Moresby yesterday.
They were the Institute of Public Administration building named after Sir Sere Pitoi, the University of PNG lecture theatre, and the Student Services building.
The Pacific Leadership and Governance Precinct is a partnership between the governments of Australia and PNG.
O’Neill thanked Bishop for Australia’s development assistance.
“I am encouraged by the partnership that the Australian government gives to support us in our endeavour to educating our public servants, training them in the leadership that they are going to continue to provide,” he said.
“This institution and the buildings that we are opening today, continues to provide opportunities for Papua New Guinea.
“It has got a unique history that is clearly aligned with the history of our country.”
He said they were making sure that there was stability in the public service.
“Stability at the leadership level, stability at the functioning roles of each sections of those departments,” he said.
“That is why you will see many of our public service leaders have been in those positions for well over 10 years.” He re-emphasised the priority on education as a key goal by the government.
“We always prioritise education. Why?
“We became a country which accepted school dropouts as being normal.
“And not educating our young girls has been normal in our societies and traditions.
“As a result, more than one million Papua New Guineans have not been able to be educated.
“Therefore we had no choice but to introduce free education in the country. And it has not been without challenges.