Apec garden visited

SPOUSES of leaders from Apec economies and wives of visiting Pacific Island leaders toured the Port Moresby Adventure Park yesterday and witnessed the opening of the Apec Garden by Lynda Babao-O’Neill, wife of PNG Prime Minster Peter O’Neill.
The garden features 21 totems carved by locals, representing national flora and fauna of the 21 Apec economies. Babao-O’Neill said the Apec Garden was a symbol of the strong relationship in the region, “while also displaying our unique differences as illustrated on the carved totems.”
Addressing the spouses and those gathered, Babao-O’Neill emphasised on the importance of protecting different cultures, flora and fauna of every economy. Meanwhile, Apec Minister Justin Tkatchenko said the garden was designed in May by locals. “All the totem poles are hand-carved by the talents of PNG. This is the true PNG garden as well as a beautiful way of showing the rest of the country the different cultures and economies that were in Apec 2018 in Port Moresby,” her said.
Among the activities for the spouses’ programme, they met at the International Convetion Centre and convoyed to the National Museum and Art Gallery for a closed-door tour, then visited Adventure Park outside Port Moresby.
Those attended the program includes the US’ Karen Pence, Japan’s Akie Abe, Malaysia’s Tun Dr Siti Hasmah Binti Mohd Ali, Indonesia’s Iriana Joko Widodo, Chinese-Taipei’s Shu-fend Chang, Republic of Korea’s Kim Jung-Sook and Thailand’s Naraporn Chan-o-cha.