Papua New Guinea’s commercial interest is not being compromised by the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) and it will not affect trade and investment of our country as far as I am concerned,” says the Minister for International Trade and Investment, Hon. Richard Maru. Minister Maru said this in his statement last week in the parliament during the debating of DCA between Papua New Guinea (PNG) and the United States (US).
“There is no need to talk about unnecessary fear about DCA stopping PNG from trading with other countries like China because the biggest trading partners of China are two of America’s strongest allies- Australia and New Zealand. China is their biggest trading partner whilst knowing that they are the strongest allies to the US. So, there is no need for fear as DCA will not affect trade and investment of our country; it will elevate the USA-PNG bilateral relations to one of confidence and trust in all aspects of our relationship including our bilateral trade and investment relationships,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru also clarified that what was signed was only a framework agreement and there were no details in terms of the cooperation.
“We are making so much fuss over a framework agreement. The details of the agreement are yet to come. Once we have the details that is when we should really talk,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru added that such agreement had benefited other countries like Fiji.
“I was recently in London where I met the Deputy Prime Minister of Fiji and a Fijian Officer who told me that under an MOA that was signed between the Fijian Government and the British Government, Fiji has 1000 men stationed in the UK Defence Force at any one point in time who are trained, equipped and on the payroll of the UK Government. They even join the UN Peacekeeping Forces because they are very highly trained and equipped,” said Minister Maru.
“They told me that Defence is a big industry for Fiji in terms of revenue generation. The Fijian soldiers in the UK send a billion US dollars every year back to their families in Fiji. And amazingly, Fiji has a Defence Force with the size of 13, 000 soldiers at any one point in time whilst PNG only has 3000. We have bigger security issues than Fiji, but they have a bigger Defence Force while we, for the last 48 years have not been given the support and the capacity to build up our Defence Force, even to deal with our internal issues,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru also stated in his recent meeting with the US Trade Team during the APEC Trade Minister’s Meeting at Detroit in the US that apart from the DCA, the two countries should also enter into a Bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement to further PNG-US bilateral trade and investment relations.
“US at the moment is a big investor in our oil and gas industry through the Exxon Mobil and will soon invest in a big mining project in PNG- the Wafi-Golpu Mine. Through the Bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement, the US can consider investing in the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) that our Government is championing,” said Minister Maru.
“This is the sort of discussions we need to have at the same time as we are negotiating the details of the future DCA which will be enhanced after the signing of the agreement,” added Minister Maru.
Minister Maru commended the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister, and the team behind the DCA.
“I believe that we have started on the right path. We must now work together and put together details and see how we can benefit from this agreement like how other countries like Fiji have benefited from such an agreement,” said Minister Maru.
