August 23, 2024
JAKARTA – After his visit to Australia, Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto flew to Papua New Guinea (PNG) to meet with Prime Minister James Marape on Wednesday, when he affirmed Indonesia’s commitment in cooperation in various sectors such as defense and education.
“I came to fulfill my promise to visit PNG as soon as possible, after Marape visited the Defense Ministry last month,” Prabowo said in a joint press conference with Marape after their meeting in Port Moresby.
Prabowo said that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had also encouraged him to pay Port Moresby a visit.
PNG has captured a considerable amount of Indonesia’s diplomatic and strategic interests in recent months, with high-level visits becoming more frequent.
PNG has in recent years been subject to influence from competing superpowers the United States and China. This, analysts say, makes PNG strategic for Indonesia to help extend its diplomacy to the region to ensure that it remains neutral.
In February, Indonesia and PNG signed a defense cooperation agreement, allowing military forces from the two countries to exchange personnel for training purposes and improving intelligence cooperation.
Prabowo said that working with PNG would be among his diplomatic priorities once taking office as president in October, emphasizing that there were “many avenues” of possible cooperation between the neighbors.
“I also said to your defense minister that we would open military schools for PNG,” Prabowo told Marape, as quoted from a press statement from Prabowo’s Gerindra Party.
Prabowo also expressed his readiness to help PNG improve education for its younger generation, saying: “You can send more students to the university level. We will grant you more scholarships.”
In its bid to align itself closer with its Oceania neighbors and relieve pressures presented by their support for the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM), Indonesia has increased its investments in the region. This includes granting certain countries like PNG increased cooperation on sectors like border movement, transportation, education and health.
In July, Jokowi said after his meeting with Marape at the Bogor Palace in West Java that he hoped that PNG would help Indonesia “elevate its cooperation with the Pacific”, including with the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) and Pacific Islands Forum (PIF).