Foreign Minister Justin Tkatchenko and the UK Secretary of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, James Cleverly signed a Status of Forces Agreement [SOFA] MoU, which will see Members of the United Kingdom Armed Forces continual support and increased activity in training and capacity building for the Papua New Guinea Defense Force and other aspects of National Security. The SOFA agreement signed by both statesmen, as per the Foreign Minister was for security purposes for the region. “The UK will now play a role to help assist and train our defense forces moving forward and many other different activities that the defense have with the UK for the benefit of the security in the region.” Minister Tkatchenko added that Papua New Guinea is one of 14 countries that play a major role especially in the Pacific. Foreign Minister Tkatchenko further stated that Secretary Cleverly is also in the country to strengthen bilateral relations and to ensure Britain’s support in working towards economic prosperity and economic independence and other aspects such as downstream processing. The Ministers believes this is a win for the people as discussions done this their meet was on how the UK will assist in keeping the country economically stable whilst working on other ways that can assist the country and the people for the long term.