Nov 16 to be a public holiday

Main Stories

By HELEN TARAWA and JEFFREY ELAPA
THE Government has declared Friday Nov 16 a public holiday.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said the public holiday was not only for people in the National Capital District, because of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Summit held in the capital city, but for everyone around the country.
The public holiday was endorsed by the National Executive Council to include everyone because it is unfair to have citizens outside the NCD working on the day while those in the capital city are allowed a day off.
Apec Minister Justin Tkatchenko added that people could stay at home and watch on television the first State visit by the President of China Xi Jinping.
“A lot of things will be happening on that Friday. So the public holiday allows us to free up the traffic and roads and let people stay home with their families and watch live on television the State visit and the Apec (meetings) for the three days that weekend.”
The Apec Chief Executive Officers Summit is from Wednesday to Friday. The State visit is on Thursday and Friday. The Leaders’ Summit is on Saturday and Sunday. “This public holiday is for Apec to ensure that all aspects from logistics to security are covered in that time,” Tkatchenko said.
“The general public in Port Moresby can witness the visit by the President Xi Jingping and the preparations for the chief executive officers’ summit.”
The 21-member economies of Apec are the United States of America, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Republic of Korea, Chinese Taipei, Thailand and Vietnam. They will be represented by their prime ministers, presidents or vice-presidents.
Tkatchenko said rehearsals were being conducted on the movements of motorcades.
“The public will see a lot of activities when it comes to police and motorcades practising for the event,” he said.
“The airport is ensuring that all the construction work is completed and they can handle all the aircraft coming in from all over the world. PNG will probably never see something like this again in a long time. We have to make sure we get it right and we do it properly.” Apec Authority chief executive officer Christopher Hawkins said the key elements of what they were doing to deliver the event were in their final stages.