By MICHELLE AUAMOROMORO in Suva, Fiji
PRIME Minister of Papua New Guinea James Marape confirmed last night that he will be attending the 51st Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting in Suva, Fiji this week.
Mr. Marape said he would not be pushing a Chinese agenda at the summit as claimed by the country’s former Prime Minister Peter O’Neil.
“There is no Chinese agenda in this meeting; neither is PNG the sponsor of a Chinese agenda in the PIF meeting.
“The PIF meeting is a usual important meeting that is required for all PIF nations to attend, and as the sitting Prime Minister, I must attend to make sure the PNG presence is felt,” he said.
Mr. Marape said he would make time available to attend the summit though he had been extremely caught up in the travels and matters of the national general elections that is currently ongoing in the country.
“I am sacrificing my political and government formation time to go and attend national duties required of me as the current incumbent Prime Minister.
“I am going to Fiji quickly for the meeting and returning at the very earliest.
“There are series of meetings running for one week; I will not be there for one week due to election requirements so I need to be back home,” he said.
Mr. Marape also clarified that the pressing issue on the agenda of the PIF that he was chosen to handle as a PIF leader had been his involvement in negotiating for Micronesian countries to not break away from the forum over a contentious issue that is still being sorted.
“There are indications, currently, from Micronesian nations to break away from the PIF.
“I am the key leader of the region dealing with the Micronesians to keep them from breaking away from PIF.
“As a senior member of the PIF, PNG plays an important role to ensure that we as a family of Pacific nations remain together,” he said.
The Sunday Bulletin is still waiting for Mr. Marape’s comment on Kiribati’s withdrawal from the forum.
