PMs agree to new trade deal

 By MALUM NALU
AUSTRALIA and Papua New Guinea have agreed on an economic cooperation treaty to allow for an increase in trade and investment.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who arrived in Port Moresby last Thursday, signed the deal with Peter O’Neill after a meeting between government officials and leaders on Friday.
“Australia invests close to $A20 billion in PNG and the trade bet­ween the two countries is now reaching close to $A8 billion. That is a significant investment in our economy,” O’Neill said.
“I am certain that for Australian businesses that do business here, it is a significant part of their business in PNG.
“We appreciate the realignment of the trade programmes, the aid programmes that the Australian Government has in PNG.
“I want to thank the Australian Government for their understanding in making sure that we develop sustainable programmes that are going to improve the quality of life and education and health for our people.
“And that the Australian taxpayer gets the value for the assistance that they kindly provide to PNG.”
Abott said the relationship bet­ween Australia and PNG went be­yond borders.
“There will long be a very strong government-to-government relationship between Australia and PNG but increasingly I would like the focus of the relationship at the government to government level to be trade as least as much as aid,” he said.
“While the focus of this visit is on trade as much as aid, obviously there are areas where our two governments are continuing to work very closely together.
“Henceforth, there will be annual prime ministerial summits between Australia and PNG.
“Australia is looking forward to working very closely with PNG as PNG moves towards hosting the APEC summit in 2018.
“This will be an important coming of age for PNG and this will be by far the biggest international gathering ever hosted in PNG and it will demonstrate that PNG is not only a very big player in the Pacific, but it is increasingly a player in the wider world.”