PNG leader in Canberra to talk deals



JULIA Gillard will seek to extend her image as a smooth foreign affairs operator during a tough week in Canberra, when she hosts a visit by new Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.


Top of the agenda will be the replacement of the 12-year-old Australia-PNG aid agreement with a broader-based economic treaty that reflects PNG’s decreased reliance on Australian aid — now 11.7 per cent of the budget — and its rapid, resource-fuelled economic growth.

Reopening the asylum-seeker processing centre on Manus Island will also be on the agenda.

PNG high commissioner to Australia Charles Lepani said the PNG government was “ready and willing to co-operate with Australia” on the issue, but it wanted to be briefed on the relevant legal and political settings in Australia.

The forum will also discuss the creation of sovereign wealth funds to make better use of money from PNG’s new gas projects, and the refocusing of aid on education and health, with infrastructure and justice additional priorities.

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