PNG to open four foreign missions

By LULU MAGINDE
THE National Executive Council has approved the opening of four foreign missions in the next three years, says Foreign Affairs Minister Justin Tkatchenko.
“The green light was given last week, with the department conducting reviews on productive missions,” he said.
“The new embassies will be set up to enhance economic trade and agriculture, health and education, starting this year.”
The four new missions to be set up are in Israel, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Thailand and Switzerland, with work to begin in Jerusalem.
“We want to work with Israel closely, through the word of God and also through the aspects of economic empowerment, agriculture, industry, commerce and so on,” he said.
Tkatchenko referred to UAE as the new frontier, a centre point for connecting the world, after attending the world expo that exposed PNG, providing an opportunity to sell our products and projects.
“Thailand can offer to connect us to the rest of South East Asia, allow us to work with them on agriculture, commerce and trade, mining and even tourism,” he said.
He is also looking to get a defence attaché as well as a trade and immigration official attached with embassies around the globe, initially beginning with the four. Tkatchenko said there would be extra funding in the 2024 and 2025 budgets to ensure the establishment of the four missions.
Secretary Elias Wohengu said Papua New Guinea was now having talks with the UAE government to determine where our embassy would be located.
“More than K100 million has been allocated to Foreign Affairs in Budget 2023, covering renovation of four missions, as well as new vehicle fleets for our missions,” Tkatchenko said.
There are 21 foreign missions and with the additional four and the closure of the Taiwan trade office, there will be 24 in total.