Port Moresby: Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden will visit Papua New Guinea in May to attend a “historic” future-oriented meeting of Pacific leaders, said the island’s Prime Minister James Marape said on Sunday (April 30). In a statement, Marape said that his country is ready to receive both President Biden and PM Modi in May for the India-Pacific Islands Cooperation meeting that would be attended by 18 Pacific Island leaders.
“Papua New Guinea is ready to receive both President Biden and Prime Minister Modi. This is a historic first, and at the same time a ‘going forward‘ futuristic meeting of global superpowers, in the biggest country in the Pacific” PM Marape said.
Biden to visit Papua New Guinea on May 22
Biden's visit to Papua New Guinea will be the first stopover as a US President. PM Marape said the White House officially confirmed that President Biden would make a historic visit to the country on May 22. Biden will meet with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister as well as 18 Pacific Island leaders, who will be in the capital Port Moresby to attend the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation. “President Biden will have a bilateral meeting with PM Marape as well as have a meeting with 18 Pacific Island leaders of the Pacific Island Forum, who will be in Port Moresby at the same time for the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC),” he said.
“In the Indo-Pacific conversation, PNG and the Pacific cannot be ignored. With our combined forest and sea areas, we have the world’s greatest carbon sink, and the biggest sea and air space on earth. We also face the greatest threat to our existence as climate change affects our lifestyles and our economies.
‘He fulfilled his promise to visit our country’
Marape said he had invited Biden when they met in Washington last year, and was “very honoured that he has fulfilled his promise to me to visit our country”. “I am happy that at our scheduled time of meeting with Indian Prime Minister Modi, we have US President Biden coming to pay his respects to the Pacific leaders. I have had the privilege of one-on-one meetings with President Biden in New York and Washington, and on both occasions, I invited him to visit PNG at the earliest. I am very honored that he has fulfilled his promise to me to visit our country,” he added.
PM Modi and Biden will stop in Papua New Guinea on the way to Australia for a May 24 Quad Summit of the Quad in Australia’s Syndey.
Also Read: PM Modi to attend Quad Leaders Summit in Australia next month
