About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

1 1 (June 25, 2019)

handle is hein.crs/govbaej0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Conressona Reeac Sevc 0 June 25, 2019 Papua New Guinea Overview Papua New Guinea (PNG) lies in a region of the Southwest Pacific known as Melanesia. It is the most populous Pacific Island nation with about 7 million residents belonging to hundreds of tribes speaking over 800 local languages and dialects. It gained independence in 1975 from an Australian-administered U.N. trusteeship. PNG is a member of the Pacific Islands Forum and the Melanesian Spearhead Group. The United States has in the past played relatively minor economic and security roles in PNG, although it has some important interests including investment in natural gas production, and cooperation on tuna fishing. China's expanding influence in PNG and the region is leading to increasing engagement by the United States with PNG, including in coordination with Australia. Politics The Independent State of Papua New Guinea is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary democracy. James Marape, the son of a Seventh Day Adventist pastor and a leader of the Huli people of PNG's highlands, was made prime minister following the resignation of former Prime Minister Peter O'Neill in May 2019. Marape led a series of defections from the O'Neill government that prompted his resignation, and defeated O'Neill's chosen successor in a subsequent leadership vote of 101-8. Marape has called for a review of PNG's resource laws and some key investment projects, including a recently concluded LNG project with Total and ExxonMobil. Marape also has stated PNG does not need foreign companies operating in the timber export sector and that he wants PNG to be the richest black Christian nation. Marape has discussed plans to shift away from traditional partners and engage Indonesia, Philippines, and Singapore in a bigger way. Economy Papua New Guinea is richly endowed with natural resources, including precious metals, natural gas, timber, and fisheries. The country's real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate was 1.6% in 2016, 2.5% in 2017, and is estimated to have been 0.3% in 2018. It is projected to grow to 3.4% in 2019 as the negative impact of a February 2018 earthquake fades. PNG ranks poorly on the United Nations Development Program's Human Development Index, which measures per capita gross national income, life expectancy, and educational attainment (it is 153rd out of 187 countries). PNG has a serious HIV/AIDS problem and a weak health system. Obstacles to PNG's economic development include destructive weather, poor infrastructure, lack of government capacity, official corruption, inadequate supply of skilled workers, and unstable commodity prices. Australia (20.1%), Singapore (17.7%), China (17.3%), and Japan (13.4%), are PNG's largest export markets. Only about 13% of Papua New Guineans have access to electricity. Figure I. PaDua New Guinea in Brief U.S. Relations and Assistance The United States established diplomatic relations with Papua New Guinea in 1975, when PNG became independent. According to Department of State official statements, PNG, as the most populous Pacific Island country, is important to peace and security in the Asia- Pacific region and the two countries have enjoyed a close friendship which includes a cooperative security assistance relationship. The Department of Defense 2019 Indo-Pacific Strategy seeks to revitalize U.S. engagement across the Pacific Islands including providing a total of $7 million in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for PNG, Fiji, and Tonga in 2018. The U.S. government also provides International Military Education and Training (IMET) assistance to PNG amounting to about $200,000 annually, focused on promoting democratic values and peacekeeping capabilities in the PNG defense force. Other U.S. assistance includes HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment, and Pacific Islands regional programs of which Papua New Guinea is a member or recipient. These include the Coral Triangle Initiative on Coral Reefs, Fisheries, and Food Security (CTI-CFF), which aims to sustain marine and coastal resources in the region, and the multilateral South Pacific Tuna Treaty (SPTT). The SPTT, established in 1988, provides access for U.S. tuna fishing vessels to fishing areas in the region, which supplies one- third of the world's tuna. In exchange, the American Tunaboat Association pays licensing fees to the 14 Pacific Island parties to the SPTT, and the United States provides economic assistance to the Pacific Island parties totaling $21 million annually. In 2018, at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting in Port Moresby, ittps://crsreports.congress

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most