By GEORGINA MICHAEL
PRIME Minister James Marape has departed for Koror, Palau, to attend the 55th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders’ Meeting, hosted by Palau President Surangel S. Whipps Jr.
The annual Forum brings together leaders from 18 Pacific Island countries and territories to discuss regional priorities, including economic development, climate change, regional security, fisheries, ocean governance and the implementation of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.
Speaking before his departure, Mr Marape said Papua New Guinea would use the meeting to reaffirm its commitment to Pacific unity and advance practical initiatives aimed at strengthening the region’s economic resilience.
“It’s important we rally together in the face of many global challenges, including sea level rise, climate change, El Niño, and the rising cost of living exacerbated by conflicts in the Middle East and the Ukraine-Russia war,” Mr Marape said.
He said PNG’s key contributions would include the Melanesian Ocean Corridor and the East New Britain Initiative, which seek to promote downstream processing of fisheries resources within Pacific countries.
“Right now, we are exporting a lot of GDP to other nations to harvest the fish and take the harvest back to their own country for processing. We want all our fisheries catches to be brought on shore in our Pacific land,” he said.
The Prime Minister stressed that Pacific nations should not be viewed as “small island states”, but as “big ocean states” with substantial sovereignty over their marine resources.
Mr Marape also welcomed the establishment of the Pacific Resilience Facility, describing it as an important Pacific-owned mechanism to help member countries strengthen their resilience to climate change, sea-level rise and natural disasters.
“For PNG, as I come back from the PIF meeting, we will designate a time before September 16 to launch the Madang PMI Jet project as a statement that all our catches in our waters must be domesticated in-country for downstream processing,” Mr Marape said.
He said PNG was seeking trading partners rather than aid.
“We are not running around asking for aid and grants. We rather want trading partners. Buy our fisheries product, partner with us in downstream processing, assist us with clean energy solutions, and work with us as general development partners,” he said.
Mr Marape said PNG looked forward to working with fellow Pacific leaders to deliver practical outcomes that strengthen regional cooperation, safeguard shared resources and improve the lives of Pacific peoples.