Meeting The Speaker Of The Papua New Guinea Parliament, Puan Emphasized The Solidarity Of Melanesia

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Puan Maharani (Dok DPR Photo)

JAKARTA - The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, met with the Speaker of the Papua New Guinea Job Pomat to strengthen bilateral relations and discuss the potential for cooperation in the future. Puan emphasized the importance of solidarity between fellow Indonesian countries.

"As a neighboring country of Indonesia to the east, this meeting shows that Indonesian diplomacy must be balanced, namely having to pay attention to our neighboring countries also in the east, and not only paying attention to competition between big countries," said Puan.

The two countries are committed to mutual support and respect. Puan hopes that sovereignty issues can be brought to international forums including the Melanesian Spreadhead Group (MSG) Summit in November 2024 as part of solidarity.

"I would like to appreciate the consistent support by Papua New Guinea to Indonesia at the Regional Forum (Pacific Island Forum/PIF) and sub-regional (Melanesian Spearhead Group/MSG)," said Puan at the DPR Building, Friday, September 27.

"I also encourage to strengthen relations between the two countries (people-to-people contact). It could be with the exchange of visits between the younger generation, or through educational cooperation between the two countries," continued Puan, accompanied by the Deputy Chairperson of the Indonesian House of Representatives for Politics and Security Lodewijk F. Paulus and Deputy Chairman of Commission I DPR RI Utut Adianto.

Indonesia and Papua New Guinea are great economic powers in the Pacific so that cooperation between parliaments will have a big impact on the prosperity of the Pacific. So that if these two countries join, they will have great potential.

"I noted that the development of the trade value between the two countries during the 5 year period saw an average increase of 9.2%. For this reason, the continuation of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) discussion is very important," said Puan.

Puan said, bilateral meetings in the last days of the DPR for the 2019-2024 period did not dampen enthusiasm. Over the past 5 years, the DPR has continued to play an active role in carrying out parliamentary diplomacy to fight for Indonesia's interests in facing global challenges.

"Because these are the last days of the DPR RI for this period, I want to convey that the DPR RI in the last 5 years has played an active role in implementing parliamentary diplomacy. This is done to overcome various global challenges faced by the world, and fight for the interests of Indonesia," said Puan.

Puan admits that diplomacy in Parliament over the past 5 years has not been easy, especially when the world faces multiple crises, an unsustainable world, facing crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic, global geopolitical tensions, war, climate change, slowing global economic growth, food security issues, and energy.

Furthermore, Puan said that so far she and other members of the DPR have not stopped voicing the independence of Palestine either in the International Parliament forum or bilateral meetings with friendly countries. In addition, the issue of women in the world of politics and a culture of peace is also a struggle brought by Puan.

"I myself consistently in the international Parliament forum to voice Palestinian independence, fight for women's empowerment, especially in the political field, and fight for a culture of peace in solving problems," said Bung Karno's grandson.

"I hope that what the DPR has done for 5 years can contribute a lot to the country and the world, improve Indonesia's welfare, and in accordance with the mandate of the opening of the 1945 Constitution," added Puan.

After the dialogue, the meeting was followed by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) related to the cooperation between the DPR RI and the Papua New Guinea Parliament which was signed by the Chairman of the DPR RI Puan Maharani and the Speaker of the Parliament PNG Job Pomat.

The contents of the MOU itself are an agreement to pass between leaders and members of parliament between the two countries, mutual support in international parliamentary forums, capacity building.

Then there is also good practice cooperation, and experience related to the function of Parliament in the legislative, budget, supervision and cooperation between the parliamentary secretariats of the two countries to support parliamentary functions.