Academic backs civil group

AN academic has supported the call by civil society organisation, ACT Now PNG, for the long-awaited Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) Report of 2018 to be presented in Parliament.
University of Papua New Guinea political science lecturer Patrick Kaiku said taxpayers had the right to know about public finances expended on the staging of the event for accountability purposes.
“A review of Apec will benefit future decision-makers as well as Papua New Guineans studying PNG’s foreign policy and diplomatic relations,” he added.
“Apec 2018 was one of the biggest events ever hosted by PNG.
“Papua New Guineans were assured that the event would bring tangible benefits and most importantly put the country in the ‘global spotlight’.
“In the meetings, major announcements were made. What is the current status of announcements made in 2018? What lessons were learnt from the staging of the Apec Leaders’ Summit? What were PNG’s specific commitments to trade liberalisation under the Apec framework? These are some of the relevant questions that must be answered in a comprehensive review of the event.
“Although the Apec 2018 event was mostly billed as a business and investment platform, for students and practitioners of diplomacy, the Apec Leaders’ meeting is categorised in diplomacy language as a summit.”