Pernyataan Pers Bersama Presiden Republik Indonesia dengan Perdana Menteri Negara Merdeka Papua Nugini, Hon. Mr. James Marape, MP

Presiden Joko Widodo:
Yang Mulia, Perdana Menteri Marape beserta delegasi.

Saya senang PM Marape dapat kembali berkunjung ke Indonesia. Dan, kunjungan ini menunjukkan semakin eratnya persaudaraan antara Indonesia dan PNG.

Sebelumnya, Indonesia juga telah menyampaikan bantuan untuk saudara-saudara kita di PNG yang tertimpa musibah tanah longsor, semoga dapat meringankan beban warga yang terdampak.

Dalam pertemuan tadi kami membahas beberapa hal. Yang pertama, terkait kerja sama bilateral, berlakunya perjanjian kerja sama pertahanan sangat penting untuk memperkuat keamanan kedua negara.

Indonesia juga menyambut baik pelaksanaan Joint Business Forum yang kedua dan penandatanganan dua MoU lintas batas darat untuk angkutan penumpang dan barang yang penting untuk meningkatkan ekonomi dan memperat hubungan antara warga di perbatasan.

Saya juga kembali menyampaikan pentingnya kelanjutan pembahasan Preferential Trade Agreement untuk meningkatkan perdagangan dua negara. Pembaharuan perjanjian kerja sama kesehatan dan penandatanganan kerja sama pendidikan untuk mempererat kolaborasi dua negara.

Terkait pembangunan jaringan listrik oleh PLN di Perbatasan Skouw, Wutung, dapat saya sampaikan bahwa kerja sama ini di mulai hari ini dan listrik sudah menyala di Wutung pada hari ini.

Selain itu, Indonesia juga telah berkomitmen untuk mendukung pembangunan PNG dan negara pasifik lainnya dimana berbagai program hibah telah dilakukan dan terus berjalan seperti renovasi di Port Moresby dan pembangunan fasilitas publik di West Sepik.

Dan, yang kedua terkait kerja sama kawasan pasifik PNG sebagai tetangga dekat dan mitra strategis Indonesia mengapresiasi dann terus mengharapkan dukungan PNG dalam meningkatkan kerja sama dengan pasifik termasuk MSG (Melanesian Spearhead Group) dan PIF (Pasific Island Forum).

Demikian yang saya sampaikan. Selanjutnya, dengan hormat saya mengundang Perdana Menteri Marape untuk menyampaikan pernyataannya. Kami persilakan.

Perdana Menteri James Marape:
Thank you very much.

His Excellency President Widodo.

Thank you for being a wonderful host one more time.

Certainly our ministers on both side have witnessed us successfully completing our Third Leaders’ Dialogue. This is a dialogue that we have initiated since 2022. 2022, I was here in a wonderful reception and meeting. 2023, President Widodo graciously found time to visit us in Port Moresby. And today, we have come back to pay respect to our two nations’ relationship and also pay respect in the sunset of our great leader and our close friend of PNG as he completes his tenureship in office as President of the Republic of Indonesia.

Mr. President,
You have been a wonderful host, and I want to say and place on record from our heart, thank you for all many helps that Indonesia continues to give to Papua New Guinea even in your time of flood, even in your time of landslide. I noted, for instance, there was the landslide that covered 28 people in Sulawesi, but you were able to send plane-loads of relief resources into Port Moresby for the Mulitaka landslide that covered entire village. And we sincerely appreciate your continued warmth and hospitality that is shown to Papua New Guinea.

My delegation and myself are extremely pleased that this Third Leaders’ Dialogue is completed very well. And we want, without repeating much of what my Indonesian President, His Excellency Widodo has emphasized, but the MOUs that we saw being exchanged, whether in health, or in education, or in transportation, are meant to continue on, cement the brother and sister relationship we have with the people of Indonesia and people of Papua New Guinea, the country of Indonesia and the country of Papua New Guinea. The future must be secured by today’s interventions as the past that we’ve lived up til today.

And we respect each other sovereignty. We live in the same space, two people, two cultures. You have unity in diversity here, over 17,000 different islands under one republic. We too have more than 600 different islands with the matching own cultures, over 800 languages under one sovereignty, and so we understand your unity and diversity as you would understand our unity in diversity.

And I want to say that this relationship is turning in the right space in as far as PNG is concerned. Before President Widodo and myself started this dialogue, most of our relationship were border–centered. It was centered on border issues, but we’ve attended in the right space now.

Indonesia has more capacity in commerce and trade, more capacity in education, more capacity in health, more capacity in technology, more capacity in businesses. Papua New Guinea foreign relationship is now also about commerce, trade, and other aspects of relationship. And we’ve started this journey three years ago. Today, we witnessed four MOUs being exchanged between departments on both governments. And I want to say, this continues on in many of the good work we’ve done.

I want to place on record our sincere appreciation for your help to develop an aspirations of West Sepik. I put to you also Western Province, they say in the same borders. I want to say thank you for the power that is now Wutung.

And I want to, I look forward to accessing power from Jayapura, going forward into the future from our many hydro potentials we have in PNG and geothermal potentials. We also can be generating cleaner power to export back to Indonesia for Indonesian businesses to harvest or use energy harvested from cleaner sources.

Mr. President,
I am looking forward to my visit, to giving respect to the incoming President later today. And we are absolutely certain that the work that you have started with me will carry on, not just between our two ministers and our respect departments but as the new President assumes full office later this year. We’ll continue on in the same spirit of building strong Indonesia-PNG relationship and maintaining the aspect of relationship more into economy, commerce, and trade. We’ll be looking forward for more investors from Indonesia to find business address in Port Moresby. Likewise, we have discussed for more of PNG produces to be also exported to the big market here in Indonesia.

Mr. President,
I am absolutely happy with the way we’ve turned out to Indonesian people here. I want to say, in conclusion, what a wonderful leader your President has been, and part of my visit here is to also pay respect to him as he completes his tenureship in the office. He has been a wonderful stateman for Indonesia and for our region as we both live in Asia-Pacific region of Planet Earth.

Going forward into the future, many, many opportunities remain available for both nations as well as the shared challenges that are common on both side, climate change–related challenges, people–related challenges. We give commitment in this sort of dialogues that we will work together to overcome all challenges going forward into the future.

Mr. President,
Papua New Guinea stands ready to work with your government into the future, your departments into the future, but more importantly your businesses and people going forward.

Mr. President,
Thank you very much.