PRIME Minister Hon. James Marape has provided a rebuttal on a recent media statement by the opposition leader, Hon. Douglas Tomuriesa following numerous international travels made by the Prime Minister and his ministers to overseas.
“All travels are budgeted for; especially head of state or head of government including head of departments. I want to give assurance to the opposition and our country that we do not travel for leisure; we are not travelling for entertainment,” PM Marape said during the press conference yesterday at the APEC VIP terminal.
“When the head of government is invited, the head of government must do so. There is no fun, there no joy, we carry the responsibility of the government and stand to committing ourselves in our roles.”
He emphasized on the importance of having those significant interfaces, as those are essential gatherings in which world leaders conduct valuable indoor conversations to establish relations in the big market.
Prime Minister reiterated countries such Indonesia carries big market in trade, commerce, education and so by doing travel as such would only help PNG achieve some of its interests in the big market.
“Indonesia has got a very strong robust middle class SME driven business in the country and so we want to serve Papua New Guineas to also go into the space, to study there and also learn and come back, especially in areas of the economy,” he said.
“We have security markets for our producers. We just don’t want to waste Prime Ministers’ connectivity with our good bilateral nations.”
He explained that in the last five years they have activated connections with more nations than ever including Market in Asia; Southeast Asia, North Asia.
Prime Minister Marape said during the meeting in Indonesia that PNG stands ready to supply food and energy while discussing on food security and energy security in the recent trip.
