United States Ambassador Ann Marie Yastishock, recently visited Hela Province at the invitation of Prime Minister James Marape. This visit was part of the Ambassador’s continued efforts to understand the people and culture of Papua New Guinea and get to know the communities of PNG personally. Ambassador Yastishock who met with representatives of the Hela Provincial government during her visit, heard about the difficulties the province was facing, and spoke with American businesses operating in the area. To talk more about their work in the province and the relationship with the United States, Ambassador Yastishock met with Provincial Administrator Marago Dagoba and his leadership team. During her visitation, she also met with Dr. James Kintwa, the Provincial Health Director, and his staff at Tari Hospital. Hospital employees gave Ambassador Yastishock a vivid illustration of how the tribal conflict puts a strain on their limited resources and expressed their excitement for the Healthy Islands Concept, which aims to identify connections between a person's behaviour, their living conditions, and poor health outcomes. “I am impressed with the efforts the Hela Provincial Government is making given the province’s constrained resources.” “I learned a lot on my first visit to Hela and hope to visit again in the future.” In addition, Ambassador Yastishock visited ExxonMobil employees and toured PNG LNG's Hides Gas Conditioning Plant in addition to meeting with provincial leadership. She also made visits to a few neighbourhood organizations, some of which receive funding from ExxonMobil. U.S. companies such as ExxonMobil are already present and making an impact around PNG and in Hela province. ExxonMobil is the largest foreign contributor to PNG LNG which is the largest foreign investment in Papua New Guinea. Meanwhile, during her visit as well to the Hela’s Education Office, Ambassador Yastishock learned about the province’s investments in TVET and Flexible Open Distance Education (FODE). She spoke specifically on the U.S. companies looking to work in PNG, including Brittanica and PowerSchool, and how the province might collaborate with these companies to enhance education services throughout Hela.