Papua New Guinea, Papua Agree On Cooperation

May 13th, 2014 0 Comment

Papua New Guinea, Papua Agree On Cooperation

Jayapura, 12/5 (Jubi) – Indonesia and Papua New Guinea agreed to promote cooperation in economic, health and education sectors, especially in Papua province.

The agreement was made during a bilateral meeting between the two countries in Bali from 8–9 May.

“We called on the government of Sandaun (province) to visit Indonesia because both countries have a long-lasting relationship. Then an unexpected problem suddenly emerged in the border, so we discussed this issue further,” First Assistant to Papua’s People Welfare department, Doren Wakerwa, said in Jayapura on Monday (12/5).

He said the purpose of the meeting, attended by Indonesian Minister of Political Security and Legal Affairs Djoko Suyanto Minister of Internal Affairs Gamawan Fauzi was to enhance cooperation between two countries to manage border issues.

“We hope the Government of PNG can help Indonesia to manage the issues caused by irresponsible persons at their area and to monitor their citizens when crossing the border of both countries,” Wakerwa said.

He said good communication will contribute to peace and security at the border. “Security in Papua is the responsibility of both sides, so we keep continue to work together to reduce gaps at the border,” he added.

Wakerkwa said both governments refused to be drawn into a blame game for a recent shooting incident in the border but were taking preventive measures to ensure similar incidents would not be happen again in the future.

“We talked about the last incident occurred on 5 April and other incidents happened in Merauke. The point is we discussed some cross-border issues to reduce gaps at the border area,” he said.

The Head of Papua’s Education Department, Alex Wonda said his office the Education Department of PNG’s Sendaun Province has asked Papua to send 16 teachers to its vocational schools. In response to the request, the provincial education department has sent an official letter to the regencies/municipality education offices to support the program.

ENDS

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