PNG PM Heads to France for Climate and Trade Talks with Macron

 Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape has travelled to France for official discussions with French President Emmanuel Macron, with climate change, trade and investment expected to dominate the bilateral agenda.

PNG PM Heads to France for Climate and Trade Talks with Macron

The visit comes as PNG seeks stronger international partnerships to address growing environmental pressures and expand overseas markets for key exports. Mr Marape described the engagement as an important diplomatic mission for the country.

The Prime Minister is expected to hold meetings with senior members of the French Government as well as business representatives during his stay in France. Talks are aimed at strengthening economic cooperation and opening new opportunities for Papua New Guinea industries.

Key matters to be discussed include climate resilience, environmental protection, sustainable fisheries management, agricultural exports and defence cooperation between the two nations.

Mr Marape said the trip also marks PNG’s reciprocal bilateral engagement with France following recent high-level interactions between the two countries.

“We are due to reciprocate a bilateral in France, so on this occasion we have picked this date,” Mr Marape said.

He revealed that French authorities had extended a rare honour by inviting him to address the French Senate, where he is expected to speak on issues affecting Papua New Guinea, the Pacific region and Asia.

“They have given us an extraordinary honour to also address, not the Parliament, but the Senate. I will be given the opportunity to address a high-level audience of French leadership to speak on contemporary matters, not just on the PNG-France relationship, but Papua New Guinea, the Pacific, and Asia,” he said.

Mr Marape said discussions with President Macron would also reinforce ongoing cooperation on climate-related initiatives started in recent years.

“We will also be having a bilateral meeting with the President, in which some of our work that we've started the last few years [will] be entrenched in relation to climate change,” he said.

The Prime Minister added that France and the wider European Union remain valuable trading partners for PNG, particularly for fisheries, oil palm and agricultural exports.

“The European Union is an important destination for many of our products, whether it's our tuna, our oil palm, or our agricultural produce, and so it is an important country to us,” Mr Marape said.