Vietnam co-operates with PNG for Rice and APEC

The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Hon. Peter O’Neill CMG MP, has congratulated H.E Mr. Trần Đại Quang on his election as the President of Viet Nam.

PM O’Neill has offered to work closely with Viet Nam when it hosts APEC in 2017, which is immediately prior to when Papua New Guinea will host APEC in 2018, and Viet Nam’s President has confirmed he will attend the APEC Leaders’ Summit in Port Moresby.
The two leaders met as part of the APEC Leaders Week in Lima, Peru, last weekend where they further discussed co-operation in agricultural skills and development, and the prospect of establishing a Papua New Guinea Embassy in Hanoi.

“I congratulated President Trần on his election to this position, and also asked that he pass on Papua New Guinea’s best wishes to his predecessor, Trương Tấn Sang
“Papua New Guinea and Viet Nam have a strong and deepening relationship and the time has come to establish a permanent foreign mission in Hanoi,” the Prime Minister said.
“This office will be an important conduit for us to not only expand trade and investment, but to draw on Viet Nam’s experience in areas such as coffee and rice production.
“Viet Nam has recently increased coffee production, and while we are targeting similar markets, there is agricultural technical information that we can share that will benefit producers in both countries.
“Both countries have significant experience producing coffee in separate hemispheres and there are lessons that can be learnt on both sides.”
The Prime Minister said Papua New Guinea is very interested to learn from Viet Nam’s experience and expertise in the production of rice.
“Viet Nam is a very efficient producer of rice, and as Papua New Guinea seeks to expand rice production, there are a lot of lessons that we can learn form Viet Nam.
“Our country should not be importing rice when we have fertile land that is so well suited to rice production.
“As we increase our technical capacity, through partners such as Viet Nam and though APEC projects, and we encourage greater investment in rice production we will see our rice production steadily increase.”
The Prime Minister further invited President Trần to APEC in Papua New Guinea in 2018.
“I have invited President Trần to visit Papua New Guinea to attend the APEC Leaders’ Summit in Port Moresby on 17-18 November 2018.
“President Trần said he will attend Papua New Guinea’s APEC in 2018, and our two economies will work together as Viet Name hosts APEC in 2017