By Kirsty Needham and Peter Hobson
CANBERRA (Reuters) – Australia and neighbouring Papua New Guinea signed a bilateral security agreement on Thursday that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and counterpart James Marape said showed the closeness of the two nations.
The deal is designed to bolster Papua New Guinea’s internal security through more assistance in policing, defence and the judiciary as the Pacific Islands’ largest nation seeks to develop its economy.
Amid strategic competition between China and the United States in the region, PNG signed a defence deal with the United States in May to upgrade its military bases, and is boosting trade ties with China.
Marape told reporters on Thursday the security agreement with Australia showed they were “brother and sister nations”, but added PNG would not pick sides and had a foreign policy of “friends to all”.
“This is a comprehensive and historic agreement. It will make it easier for Australia to help PNG address its internal security needs,” Albanese told a news conference in Canberra.
He paid tribute to the support PNG’s population gave to Australian service members during World War Two, and said it was a defence relationship forged through sacrifice.
“For our interests going forward, we have no closer friends than Papua New Guinea,” Albanese said.
PNG’s judiciary, public service and borders were established by Australia before PNG became an independent nation 48 years ago, Marape said.
“You have always given support to us. What happens up north of your borders has deep, deep shared effect, benefit, consequences, on our region,” he added.
The text of the agreement says that enhancing PNG’s capabilities contributes to “Pacific-led regional security and stability”, and that the two nations will prioritise consultations with each other on PNG’s need for security-related equipment, infrastructure and training.
As China has sought to boost its security presence in the Pacific Islands, signing deals to equip and train police in Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, where it is a large infrastructure lender, Australia has said security should be provided by Pacific countries.
Defence Minister Richard Marles said on Wednesday that a meeting of South Pacific defence ministers, including PNG, had agreed at a meeting in the French territory of New Caledonia to consider forming a Pacific Response Group to provide assistance in emergencies.
The security deal between Australia and PNG says the two nations will consult if there is a threat to peace in the Pacific, or an external armed attack on either party.
It also covers classified information sharing, critical infrastructure, cyber, maritime and aviation security and health.
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal and Kirsty Needham in Sydney, and Peter Hobson in Canberra; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Sonali Paul and Gerry Doyle)
