Gillard: Deep ties exist

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Monday 13th May 2013

 By MALUM NALU

AUSTRALIA and Papua New Guinea and Australia last Friday signed a joint declaration of new partnership to strengthen cooperation between the two countries.

The agreement was signed at parliament by Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her PNG counterpart Peter O’Neill.

Gillard and O’Neill also signed a defence cooperation agreement which will see defence ministers from both countries meet every year.

Gillard said the signing showed the deep ties that exist between both countries.

“These ties are the foundation of our unique bilateral relationship,” she told a joint media conference.

“We also share important economic development and security issues and we have talked about these interests today as partners who understand each other.

“The way we do business with each other is modernising and changing.

“The discussions I’ve had with Prime Minister O’Neill and his cabinet have focused on the future and a new chapter in our relationship.

“Our signing of a joint declaration between our two countries reflects this evolution, and heightening of maturity of our relationship.

“I was also very pleased to sign a defence cooperation arrangement, our biggest defence cooperation programme that will deepen our ties, including annual talks centred on defence ministers.

“In our meeting earlier today, we talked about PNG’s impressive economic growth over the last decade, and the long-term benefits of the impressive PNG LNG project.

“We agreed to work towards signing an economic cooperation treaty, the text of which was initialled by our foreign ministers late last year.

“The treat will reinforce the commitments made by the joint declaration of long-term economic partnership, along the full range of relationship.

“Australia remains committed to helping PNG manage the gains from the LNG project and from other mineral windfalls, to assist in the development of an international, practical, sovereign wealth fund.”

O’Neill said the agreement showed a new level of maturity between the countries.

“As we all know, Australia is our closest neighbour and our best friend, and today’s signing signifies that even more,” he said.

“The joint declaration lays out the basic principles in the growth of our mutual relationships.

“This document represents a significant advance in Papua New Guinea-Australia relationships.”