NOVEMBER 17, 2022
Prime Minister Hon. James Marape has invited the United States of America to invest in downstream processing in Papua New Guinea, especially in fisheries.
He made the invitation to US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of APEC 2022 in Bangkok, Thailand, today.
PM Marape said it was a privilege for PNG to have been given the honor of meeting Secretary Blinken.
The bilateral also comes after the Biden administration hosted the first-ever U.S.-Pacific Island Country Summit in Washington, D.C. on September 28–29, bringing together more than a dozen Pacific Island leaders and other key observers to discuss areas of shared interest, including climate change, maritime security, and economic development; and as the US prepares to open its new Embassy building in Port Moresby later this month.
Today’s bilateral was the culmination of a busy first day at APEC 2022 at which PM Marape had meetings with several international companies in which he invited them to invest in PNG.
PM Marape was accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Hon. Justin Tkatchenko, Secretary for PM and NEC Ivan Pomaleu and Foreign Affairs Secretary Elias Wohengu at today’s meeting with Secretary Blinken.
PM Marape and Secretary Blinken during today’s bilateral meeting.
The US pledged to engage more with us and asked us what kind of support we wanted,” he said after the meeting.
“We didn’t ask them to give us more grants and aid – all we asked was for them to bring in more US businesses into PNG, particularly in the downstream sector.
“We pointed them to the area of fisheries, saying that’s the best they can do for us, to economically empower us not just today, but more importantly into the future.
“We invited them, as the biggest global economy, to bring in their companies and take up residence in PNG.”
PM Marape greets Secretary Blinken before today’s bilateral meeting.
The meeting also touched on:
• Follow-up on discussions from the Washington meeting, especially that PNG’s case was different from smaller Pacific nations;
• PNG’s location in the Indo-Pacific region;
• PNG’s reliance on Asia for commerce and trade;
• US companies operating in PNG, especially ExxonMobil, which recently celebrated 100 years in the country;
• USA inviting Pacific Island countries to the next APEC which it will host
• Various other matters
