Forum starts today

By LESLIE OMARO
THE 21st Papua New Guinea-Australian Ministerial Forum will be held today to discuss wide ranging issues from the Manus asylum centre to aid and trade.
At the conclusion of the meeting today in Port Moresby, the two foreign affairs ministers would sign a communiqué committing both countries to the issues discussed.
PNG would propose to extend the Manus asylum centre to include people from other Pacific Forum nations.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill raised the issue with his Australian counterpart, Julia Gillard, when he visited Australia last week.
The issue of how long asylum seekers are kept at the Manus centre would be raised as well as concerns over when women and children are at the centre.
Manus received its first batch of 19 asylum seekers inclu­ding four children last month.
A second batch of eight families, comprising 16 adults and 12 children from Sri Lanka and Iran, arrived on Manus last Sunday.
They were accompanied by Australian Federal Police, immigration staff, interpreters, children’s services and medical staff.
On Australian aid to PNG, a potentially thorny issue will be PNG government insistence that Australian aid be realigned to reflect PNG government priorities.
O’Neill had told Australian audiences last week that Australian aid was spread too thinly across the country and would deliver far greater results if it was realigned to reflect PNG government focus on provinces and districts, on social sector areas of education and health, and focusing on economic infrastructure building.
Foreign Affairs officials were tightlipped on the agendas for today but indicated that the Manus asylum centre and the health and education issues would be among the hot topics for discussion between the two countries.
Members of the team on Monday visited Mt Hagen, Wapenamanda, Owers Corner and the Bomana War Cemetery outside Port Moresby.
In Mt Hagen, Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Bob Carr announced a A$66 million child and maternal health care plus a A$12 million support towards education in the country.
The PNG ministerial delegation would be led by Foreign Affairs Minster Rimbink Pato and include Charles Abel (National Planning and Monitoring), James Marape (Finance), Kerenga Kua (Justice and Attorney-General), Michael Malabag (Health and HIV/AIDS), Nixon Duban (Police), Ano Pala (Transport), Richard Maru (Trade, Commerce and Industry), Don Polye (Treasury), Fabian Pok (Defence), Francis Awesa (Works and Implementation), Justin Tkatchenko (Sports and Pacific Games), Sir Puka Temu (Public Service), John Pundari (Environment and Conservation), Steven Kamma (Autonomous Regions), Davis Steven (Civil Aviation) and William Duma (Petroleum and Energy).
Carr leads the Australian delegation comprising Chris Bowen (Immigration and Citizenship), Dr Craig Emerson (Trade), Jason Clare (Home Affairs, Justice and Defence) and Richard Marles (parliamentary secretary for Pacific Islands Affairs).