Dawn of a new era - PNG/Australia/Pacific
7/3/08
Australia will increase its development assistance to Papua New Guinea and the Pacific island countries under a new policy framework announced by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Port Moresby yesterday. It will also work closely with the island nations to help them meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals adopted by the United Nations in 2000. Dubbed the “Port Moresby Declaration” the new policy framework comes under what the Australian Government calls the Pacific Partnerships for Develop-ment. (See the text on Page 17.) The declaration spells out the principles of how the new Labor Government in Canberra wants to conduct its relations with PNG and the countries of the Pacific Island Forum especially in terms of its aid to the small Pacific island nations including PNG.