THE National Executive Council (NEC) has given an approval to setup four new missions throughout the world.
Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister, Justin Tkatchenko announced this yesterday.
Minister Tkatchenko said the Foreign Affairs department is doing a complete review of all missions around the world.
He said the department is assessing missions that are productive or that are a waste of time and money for PNG.
While undergoing this assessment, Tkachenko said the government has already agreed to setting up four new missions to give PNG an opportunity in business, agriculture, economic benefits and so on.
He said the first embassy will be setup in the State of Israel in Jerusalem because of the country’s huge significance in religious aspects as well as technology.
“Israel is the motherland and a lot of people have an understanding in that. The way they do things in Israel with business is very outstanding,” he said.
He said the second mission will be in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which is the new frontier or centre for connecting the world.
The minister said UAE will be a great opportunity to sell local products and projects in commerce as well as economic advancement in technology and so forth.
“The third will be in the Kingdom of Thailand, South East Asia, a very important area where they can connect us and allow us to work with them on Agriculture, commerce and many more,” Said Tkatchenko.
He said the last mission will be setup in Switzerland, Geneva where most of the big decisions for the Europeans are made and centred.
“It’s a very important area in Europe, it’s a centre point for all countries to come for their meetings, conferences and gatherings. It’s easy for us to access the world market in Europe through Geneva.”.
He added that his department will make sure these four embassies will move forward without fear or favour.
He also said that they will make sure they get people with good credentials to represent PNG at the highest level in these four selected countries.
These embassies are expected to be setup starting this year and will be in full operation by 2025.
The government has made available a funding allocation of K100 million already to commence the establishment of the first two embassies starting this year.
