MAY 27, 2023
Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Hon. James Marape says he will continue to champion the cause of the smaller Pacific Island countries.
He said this after meeting with three Pacific leaders in Port Moresby on Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in a busy day of bilaterals following the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit on Monday, May 22, 2023.
PM Marape met with Marshall Islands Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Hon. Kitlang Kabua, Tuvalu Prime Minister Hon. Kausea Natano and Palau President H.E. Surangel Whipps.
“Papua New Guinea is blessed with abundance of land and natural resources and I am duty bound to advocate on behalf of my Pacific brothers and sisters on shared issues of interest that are affecting them,” PM Marape said.
“Climate change is the single-greatest threat to our Pacific and the onus is on us to collectively act now as one voice to preserve our people, their culture and land from its devastating effects.
“Soon after being elected into Office in 2019, one of my first international engagements was the Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu. It was there that I brought forward an initiative and solution to address climate variation for our low-lying islands, especially through land reclamation.
“To this day, I have continued to reiterate this solution and I strongly believe that the major emitters of carbon must be brought to bear to commensurate the Pacific people for destroying their pristine environments. I call for these major emitters to assist with innovative science and technology and engineering to help with adaptation and mitigation efforts to ensure our Pacific people remain in their tradition and cultural economies rather than being climate refugees in other countries.”
PM Marape said the global community must take heed of this pathway he was embarking upon for the preservation of environment in the ‘Blue Pacific’.
Prime Minister Marape stressed that despite the size of Pacific countries, “there is strength in numbers and great potential in our national assets such as our vast open skies, oceans and forests that have been used for business, commerce and trade which has contributed to our livelihood”.
“Under my Government, we are in the process of establishing downstream processing facilities for our agriculture, forestry and fisheries products. I welcome the participation of Small Island States through contributing your fisheries and marine resources to be processed onshore in PNG and with a certain percentage of the revenue to be distributed fairly to support our annual budgets and socio-economic development agenda across the ‘Blue Pacific’.
“It is my strong conviction that together we can achieve this.”
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