Call for foreign help with PNG job creation

PNG's Trade Minister Richard Maru

Papua New Guinea's Trade Minister has accused Australia of failing to help the country create the jobs it needs to cope with a growing youth population.

Trade Minister Richard Maru has told Fiji's interim Prime Minister and his 100-strong delegation that if PNG is to avoid social problems it needs two million new jobs.

He has invited Fiji businesses to come and take the place of Australian industries that have not developed local partners.

"Australia has done nothing to help us to raise beef here because it is not in their national interest," Mr Maru said.

"Our islands can no longer be dumping grounds for our Australian and New Zealand friends, or anybody else for that matter."

Mr Maru has also criticised Australia's quarantine restrictions on PNG produce.

Fiji's interim Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama is visiting Papua New Guinea in a sign of strengthening relations between the two governments.

It is his first state visit to any country since he staged a military coup six years ago.

ABC news