Prime Minister (PM) James Marape has met with Fiji Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka on the margins of the 53rd Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Tonga where both Melanesian leaders talked on furthering trade and security cooperation. The meeting, which took place on Monday 26th August, discussed mutual areas of concern between Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Fiji, where the two leaders continued to explore and strengthen the bilateral cooperation between the two countries. The agenda covered progress of the PNG-Fiji Defence Cooperation, engagement of Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF) in peace-keeping operations, trade and investment, land availability in both countries for respective missions, education, and the continuation of the Sir Mara and Sir Michael legacy. Marape informed PM Rabuka that the defence cooperation between the two countries will be progressed, and also highlighted to his counterpart the great potential for trade and investment existing between the two nations, urging bureaucracies of the two nations to work together through the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) avenue to progress trade and investment further. He informed PM Rabuka that PNG is now focusing on commerce, business, trade and investment, and exploring further markets in Asia and the Pacific. The Prime Minister highlighted the East New Britain Initiative (ENBi) in PNG as a regional fisheries commercialisation concept for the fishing and processing of the region's marine resources for export. He stressed that the ENBi provides the opportunity to Pacific Island countries to invest in the project for better returns than what Pacific countries are currently getting from raw tuna export. Marape also made known the availability of land to Prime Minister Rabuka for the construction of the Fiji mission building in Port Moresby city, committing K25 million to start the construction. He then thanked Mr Rabuka for the land the Fiji government is making available to PNG to build its mission office in Suva. Regarding PNG students in Fiji at the University of South Pacific, Prime Minister Marape said PNG would sign up as a member of University of South Pacific, and that the PNG government is looking at scholarship options for Pacific Islands students studying at Pacific Adventist University in PNG.