H.E. Grand Chief Sir Bob Bofeng Dadae, GCL, GCMG, KStJ, Governor General of Papua New Guinea, today welcomed the President of Indonesia H.E. Joko Widodo who arrived in Port Moresby on a one-day State Visit today.
This is the second State Visit by President Widodo to Papua New Guinea. Shortly after his arrival this morning, President Widodo called on the Governor General at Government House. President Widodo informed the Governor General that the purpose of his visit to PNG was to strengthen partnership between Indonesia and PNG that is based on the principles of mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.
President Widodo said, among Indonesia’s diverse ethnic groups, there are 13-million Melanesians that make up the vast population of Indonesia.
“They are an important asset to strengthen cooperation between Indonesia and the Pacific,” President Widodo said.
President Widodo noted that Indonesia has been providing education scholarships to Papua New Guinean students and looks forward to mutual partnership agreements between the two countries to establish infrastructure developments such as roads and highways linking PNG and Indonesia.
President Widodo made mention of the inaugural Citilink flight from Denpasar to Port Moresby last Sunday as a significant milestone for our two countries.
President Widodo said, this is important for people to people contact connecting peoples of our two countries, and more importantly, provide PNG the opportunity to penetrate both the Indonesian and the Asian markets for economic benefit. President Widodo concluded the meeting with an invitation to the Governor General to visit Indonesia.
The Governor General hosted a State Lunch in honour of the President’s visit at APEC Haus this afternoon. President Widodo departs Port Moresby this afternoon.