Maue warns of shake-up at Foreign Affairs Dept

A MAJOR shake-up is expected at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Newly-appointed Foreign Affairs secretary Michael Maue said there would be happy as well as disappointed people, but he “intends to make the changes to restore the department” to its glory days.
Mr Maue said new positions would be advertised starting today and the key factors that would guide selection were hard work and honest application at the workplace.
“Let me assure the Government and the people of Papua New Guinea that together with the new senior management team, I will endeavour to bring the department to its glory days where officers were proud to be a part of it.”
Mr Maue was speaking yesterday during the hand-over of the position by former secretary Gabriel Pepson to him.
Minister Sam Abal and senior managers of the department witnessed the transition.
The new secretary urged the officers to turn a new leaf and make a pledge with him to make a difference for the better.
“There will be changes to the composition of the senior management team with the objective to achieve results, and in the process, there will be disappointments.
“However, I seek everyone’s cooperation to meet the concerns of our political leaders.”
Mr Maue said the department did not meet the deadline to finalise the foreign policy review document and with him taking over, a new deadline will be set to achieve that task.
He said important areas that must be included in the white paper were the broad areas of international relations and security, trade and aid development cooperation, non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council, chairmanship of the UN General Assembly, membership of Asean, UN peacekeeping duties by members of the PNG Defence Force, pursuing bilateral and regional trade arrangements and introducing dual citizenship.
Mr Maue has served in the public service for 31 years, with stints as country representative in Brussels, Canberra, Fiji and more recently in Japan before his latest appointment.