Papua New Guinea has announced potential job opportunities for retired police and military personnel, according to Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka.
Prime Minister Rabuka is currently attending the 53rd Pacific Island Forum (PIF) Leaders Meeting in Nuku’alofa, Tonga, where he held discussions with Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape on Monday.
During their meeting, the two leaders spoke about the reopening of Fiji’s diplomatic mission in Papua New Guinea and discussed initiatives to enhance climate resilience in the Pacific region.
Rabuka noted that the agenda also included plans for a visit to Indonesia to engage in dialogue regarding the situation in West Papua. Last year, both Rabuka and Marape were designated as special envoys by the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) to meet with the President of Indonesia.
“We were supposed to visit Indonesia to speak with the authorities there about West Papua, but that hasn’t happened yet. We need to inform the MSG leaders at our upcoming subregional meeting that we still have not met with the President,” Rabuka stated.
He explained that the delay was partly due to Indonesia’s elections and suggested it might be more productive to engage with the incoming President rather than one whose term is concluding.
Furthermore, Rabuka indicated that Fiji is prepared to deploy personnel from Papua New Guinea as part of the Republic of Fiji Military Forces (RFMF) on peacekeeping missions. He mentioned that Black Rock training facilities would be accessible for joint operations training for PNG personnel as needed.
He also expressed that Fiji plans to provide additional cultural and educational opportunities to Papua New Guinea in the near future.