PNG’s Heads of Mission offices in several countries are facing possible closure following the inability to pay up operational costs in running their offices.
Opposition Leader Beldan Namah highlighted this in Parliament yesterday during Question Time and asked Prime Minister James Marape if the government is aware of this situation and is doing anything to address this issue.
Mr Namah made reference on the issue in reading a letter from the Permanent Mission to the United States dated March 17, 2022 to the Deputy Secretary of Trade and Foreign Affairs Department on the deteriorating state of affairs in their office in the United States.
“I have received the same story from our mission in our nearest neighbor Indonesia and our consul in Jayapura, they’re virtually closed,” Mr Namah said.
“Our mission in Seoul, South Korea has also closed and I’m told that this is the same embarrassing state of affairs in all our missions abroad.”
“It is totally embarrassing to receive this kind of letter from our representatives who carry our face in our international missions abroad.”
Mr Marape in response said the government is aware of this issue and has been supporting these missions abroad however the legacy issues in debt repayment over the years has crept in on their operation in recent times.
“When we send in money to keep the business running, they are also trying to catch up on outstanding bills that they’ve been carrying for many years,” Mr Marape said.
He further said he also directed the Treasury Department in January to send funds directly to the overseas missions instead of sending it through to the Foreign Affairs Department as is the case in the past so that they can administer their own administration to ensure their business remain functional.
“I sincerely apologize to the faithful public servants and the Heads of Missions and their families for working under duress and stress but thank them for serving the country very well,” Mr Marape said.