PM Abe’s visit hailed a success

 FOREIGN Affairs Minister Rimbink Pato says the two-day visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has been a “huge success” and augurs well for future relations between the two countries.

“They (Japanese) were so impressed and I think, as I can see, that there is a feeling that they really need to connect with Papua New Guinea in a far more serious manner than they have been,” Pato said on Saturday.

“They’re a very important development partner for us but the focus of the trip (investment), and the warmth with which the Prime Minister’s delegation was received, has been a turning point. 

“All of the members of the delegation that I have spoken to and have been with us as I’ve taken the Prime Minister to Wewak and back, say they are simply overwhelmed. 

“They’re overwhelmed with excitement, they’re overwhelmed with emotion, with the friendliness and type of welcome. 

“They’ve received welcomes elsewhere but not to the extent that they’ve received in Papua New Guinea, the warmth and the feeling of friendship. 

“If he can, I think he (Abe) may return.”

Pato said the highlights of the two-day visit included the visit to Wewak to honour war dead and the announcement of K4.7 billion (20 billion Yen) in development assistance over the next three years.

“He (Abe) was accompanied on this (Wewak) trip by a 99-year-old veteran who was in the war here,” he said.

“Much of the explanation as to the history of where the Japanese were, the airfields were, where the barges were landed, he was able to do that with great precision because he was living history.