Papua New Guinea Minister for Information and Communication Technology, Timothy Masiu met with the Fijian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Communication, Manoa Kamikamica in Suva Monday.
Minister Masiu informed his Fijian counterpart that his visit was to encourage regular interactions and visits at Ministerial and senior officials’ level to further strengthen cooperation in the ICT space.
“My meeting demonstrates my keenness to engage with our Fijian counterpart under their new Government, to explore mutual areas of cooperation of our PNG/Fiji bilateral relationship, especially in the ICT and media space.
“My meeting with my counterpart Fijian Minister for Communication was very very fruitful. I’m very happy to have met him and also discuss some of the issues that we both face in our Ministries,” Masiu said.
The PNG ICT Minister also briefed his Fijian counterpart on what Papua New Guinea is doing, in terms of ICT rollout and his Fijian counterpart also explained things that are being done in Fiji.
“In the meeting also, I invited him to attend the proposed inaugural Pacific ICT Ministers Dialogue that will be taking place in PNG on the 28th and 29th of August. And the Minister who actually worked in Papua New Guinea for six years with the ANZ Bank, you know he wants to come home again. He said he will be there.
“I’ve also invited him to attend the NBC 50th anniversary dinner on the first of December this year.
“Those are important steps that we forged in this meeting. These steps will lead to bigger things because Fiji is one of the powerful countries in the Pacific region, just like Papua New Guinea, and so we need to exchange ideas. We need to talk about what we are doing in both sectors in Fiji and in PNG.
“My meeting with Vodafone is a good sign that Fijian business wants to be in Papua New Guinea. This is one thing that the Marape-Rosso Government is embarking on to open up a lot of investment opportunities for our Pacific islanders to come to PNG to invest in Papua New Guinea,” Masiu said.
Minister Masiu said he’s very happy and satisfied that Fiji is willing and supports the idea of the ‘Smart Pacific One Voice’ agenda that is being moved forward in the sector.
SOURCE: NBC PNG NEWS/PACNEWS
