Australia has been unsuccessful in finalizing a significant defense agreement with Papua New Guinea, which is the second instance in the past week that the Albanese government has not managed to secure a deal with a Pacific country.
The Prime Minister is in Port Moresby to mark the 50th year since Papua New Guinea gained its independence.
He had wished to finalize a defense pact with PNG Prime Minister James Marape, which would have involved both countries pledging to protect each other in case of a military assault.
However, a senior PNG government official informed The Australian that the agreement was still 'under development' and had not yet been approved by their parliament.
Alternatively, both leaders held a press conference on Wednesday morning to announce that they had finalized a statement endorsing the 'text' of an agreement.
The Papua New Guinea government will convene next week to deliberate on the agreement.
Albanese stated that the communique marked only the initial phase towards finalizing the treaty.
"We are making this available for all to see today, and it's very positive, extremely positive. There is absolutely no downside," he said to reporters.
This is beneficial for Australia and advantageous for Papua New Guinea.
It occurred just a week following Albanese's visit to Vanuatu to finalize a security and economic agreement, which also fell through at the last moment.
The Labour administration was aiming to finalize a $500 million economic and security agreement with Vanuatu prior to the Pacific Islands Forum held in the Solomon Islands last week, yet it has been delayed due to worries regarding infrastructure financing from China.
It follows that the Albanese administration has committed to financing PNG's $600 million NRL team, along with supporting the construction of a new ministerial wing within PNG's parliament.
More to come.
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