By Natasha Ovoi
Prime Minister and now Acting Foreign Affairs Minister Hon. James Marape says relations between Republic of Korea and Papua New Guinea are “very important”, and this was exemplified by trade between the two countries worth US$1.8 billion (K6.33 billion) in 2022, a massive 240 per cent increase from 2021.
On Friday, the Prime Minister had attended a high-level meeting with Members of the Republic of Korea Assembly in Port Moresby, in a delegation led by Chairman of Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee Kim Tae Ho.
The delegation also included Vice-Chairperson Lee Jae Jung and committee members Cheol Soo and Woo Sangho.
“I am happy that this delegation has visited our country, and will reciprocate with a visit to their country, to further strengthen our relations.”
PM Marape confirmed that he would attend the first Korea-Pacific Islands Summit in Seoul at the end of his month, to discuss issues of climate change as well as furthering bilateral relations. He pledged PNG’s support to host World Expo2030 in Busan.
“I want to offer PNG as an investment destination for Korean companies, as well as for our producers to export to Korea’s markets,” Marape said.
Confident that the country’s GDP will increase in the next 10 – 15 years, the Prime minister expressed that PNG has energy sources and raw materials and his government is pushing for downstream processing upon these relations, especially with consideration of the country’s economic zones.
