PNG, Indonesia maintain relations

THE Governments of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia have underscored the significance of respecting territorial integrity and sovereignty and reaffirmed their commitments to maintain ongoing dialogue to build stronger relations.
This comes after Prime Minister James Marape and Indonesian President Joko Widodo met on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) leaders summit in Jakarta on Thursday.
On electrification project, the two leaders expressed appreciation on the Wutung Power Project and pledged to work together to ensure the project flowed smoothly and is completed on time.
As a follow-up to their meeting on July 5 in Port Moresby, the two leaders stressed on the need to expedite the conclusion of trade agreements to reduce tariff barriers that would benefit both side by encouraging increased flow of trade activities.
Regarding the West Papua United Liberation Movement (ULM) issue at the recently concluded Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) leaders’ summit in Port Vila, Vanuatu, Marape said PNG abstained form supporting the ULM’s full membership bid to the MSG on the grounds that it did not meet the requirements of a fully-fledged sovereign nation.
More so, Indonesia’s associate membership status also as a Melanesian country to the MSG sufficed and therefore cancelled out West Papua ULM’s bid.
On alleged human rights issues in West Papua, Marape said that owing to its own human rights challenges, PNG had no moral grounds to comment on human rights issues outside of its own jurisdiction.
Widodo spoke of Indonesia’s commitment to building trustful and cooperative relations with the Pacific and would extend an invitation to Pacific Island leaders to attend the Archipelagic and Island States Forum in October this year in Indonesia.