Opening Remarks, Port Moresby

SUBJECTS: Inaugural Trilateral Defence Ministers’ Meeting

DR BILLY JOSEPH, PNG MINISTER FOR NATIONAL DEFENCE: This is my honour to warmly welcome you all to Port Moresby for this inaugural Defence Ministers’ Meeting between Papua New Guinea, Australia and Indonesia. This is a significant moment for our three nations. We are neighbours who share borders, maritime spaces, cultural linkages and deep strategic interests. Our security and prosperity are intertwined, and it is therefore essential that we come together in the spirit of cooperation, dialogue and mutual respect. I wish to sincerely acknowledge His Excellency Dr Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin and the Indonesian delegation, and Richard Marles – the Deputy Prime Minister of Australia – together with the Australian delegation for being here. Thank you very much for accepting our invitation and for your commitment to elevating our trilateral cooperation. Papua New Guinea is grateful and honoured to host this inaugural meeting. Our engagement today builds on important progress already made. Recently, over in Australia with the signing of a Mutual Defence Treaty, also called the Pukpuk Treaty, reaffirming our long-standing partnership and shared commitment to regional stability. Likewise, Indonesia and Australia have strengthened their cooperation through the signing of a security treaty. These developments reflect a clear and common understanding that our region faces increasingly complex security challenges that no single country can address alone. Against this spectrum, it is both timely and fitting that Papua New Guinea, Australia and Indonesia meet collectively at ministerial level. This trilateral meeting allows us to deepen trust, harmonise our approaches and enhance coordination on issues that affect all of us, including border management, maritime security, humanitarian assistance and disaster responses, defence capability development and broader regional peace and stability. Our discussions today will lay the foundation for a stronger trilateral relationship — one built on transparency, shared responsibility and mutual benefit. Let this meeting be the first of many, and let it signify our joint commitment to shaping a safer and more secure region for our people. Once again, excellencies and distinguished guests, welcome to Papua New Guinea. We look forward to a productive discussion and to the continued strengthening of our trilateral relationship. Thank you very much.

RICHARD MARLES, DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER : Can I acknowledge the Honourable Dr Billy Joseph, the Minister for National Defence in Papua New Guinea. And can I also acknowledge the Honourable Dr Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, the Minister for Defence in Indonesia. It is really, very exciting to be here at this inaugural Australia–PNG–Indonesia trilateral Defence Ministers’ Meeting. Yesterday at the reception, Minister Joseph said that today we would make history, and I genuinely believe that that’s what this meeting represents. It is a very significant moment in the security history of our three countries. We clearly share a region, and we also have excellent personal relations between the three ministers here, but deep strategic trust between our three countries that is reflected in the agreements which have been signed over the course of the last couple of months. On the sixth of October, we signed the Pukpuk Treaty — an alliance treaty between Australia and Papua New Guinea. It is the first alliance that we have signed as a nation since 1951. And in January, we will sign a treaty on common security between Australia and Indonesia, which recognises the significant shared interest that our countries have, and Minister Joseph is right — against that backdrop, this meeting is critically important. We have deep strategic trust between our three countries, but that is not something that we take for granted, and that is something which needs to be nurtured and deepened and progressed each and every day, and that’s what this trilateral will do. And this is not a one-off. It is our intention for this now to be a piece of the regional architecture between our three countries, and we will meet as three defence ministers each and every year from here on in — which means that the first of these meetings carries a particular significance. From the perspective of Papua New Guinea, to have its two largest neighbours meeting around the table in this fashion greatly contributes to the national security of PNG. From the perspective of Indonesia, to have both PNG and Australia committing ourselves to the territorial integrity of Indonesia is deeply significant. And from an Australian perspective, to have our two northern neighbours around the table with us is hugely significant in terms of providing security across our northern approaches for Australia, and that goes to the very heart of our nation and the very security of our continent. And when you think about it in those terms, you really get a sense of how important this meeting is. In many ways, it’s remarkable that we have not had this construct earlier, but we are really excited about commencing it today, and we very much look forward to the conversations we’re about to have — not just today, but next year and in the years ahead. Thank you.

DR SJAFRIE SJAMSOEDDIN, INDONESIAN MINISTER OF DEFENSE: Thank you very much, Your Excellency Dr Billy Joseph, Minister for Defence of the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, and my close friend DPM and Minister for Defence Richard Marles. Allow me today to express my gratitude on your invitation, and I love to come back here again (inaudible). That is the consequence of the neighbour — the more we visit each other, the better as the family. First of all, I would like to express my sincere appreciation and gratitude for the precious opportunity, excellency, to be here again in Port Moresby, the proud capital of Papua New Guinea, for this momentous occasion. Today, I am with my main delegates: on my right side, the Ambassador of Papua New Guinea, Indonesian Papua New Guinea, and on my left side, the Deputy Armed Forces Commander, and second row is my staff from Indonesia. We do understand the importance of this meeting today, because from this meeting we can enhance and we can develop more cooperation between Indonesia, Australia and Papua New Guinea. I firmly believe that this first Trilateral Defence Ministers’ Meeting will serve as a milestone and a stronger defence dialogue, enhancing practical cooperation and contributing meaningfully to the security of the state of our region. And I look forward with great confidence to open productive and result-oriented discussions. May our deliberation today pave the way for engagement and strategic trust benefiting our nations of the greater Indo-Pacific region. Before I close this remark, I talk to Excellency DPM — if we have agreed together, I invite to have this second trilateral meeting in Indonesia. Thank you very much

ENDS