Premier Village Danang Resort, Da Nang City, Vietnam
November 9, 2017

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte talked with Prime Minister Peter O’Neill of Papua New Guinea in a bilateral meeting at the Premier Village Danang Resort in Da Nang City, Vietnam.

The two leaders discussed further cooperation on agriculture and fisheries, with the Philippines offering to provide technology and expertise of its rice farmers for the development of Papua New Guinea’s more than 40 million hectares of land for rice plantation. Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary Manny Piñol will be visiting Papua New Guinea next year while Philippine Ambassador to Papua New Guinea Bien Tejano would commence arrangements with the government and the land owners.

On fisheries, the Prime Minister said that his government would continue to honor the state agreement between Papua New Guinea and the Philippine fishing industries even as his country continues to tighten policies on this sector.

The President was accompanied in the meeting by Departments of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez, Agriculture (DA) Secretary Manny Piñol, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Ernesto Pernia, Philippine Ambassador to Papua New Guinea Bien Tejano, and Special Assistant to the President Christopher ‘Bong’ Go.

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