A host of United States military and civilian officials visited Papua New Guinea (PNG) in July 2024 to reinforce the nations’ Defense Cooperation Agreement. The three-day stay assured PNG of the U.S. commitment to help bolster its economy, humanitarian endeavors and defense initiatives, among other efforts.
Australia and the U.S. signed bilateral security pacts with PNG in 2023. The agreements counter the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) attempts to extend its influence in the Pacific region after signing a security deal with the Solomon Islands in 2022.
PNG is the region’s second-largest nation after Australia, both in population and land mass, and in 2025 will mark 50 years of independence. The U.S. delegation included Navy Adm. Samuel Paparo, Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command; Mira Rapp-Hooper, the White House senior director for East Asia; Daniel Kritenbrink, the State Department’s top regional diplomat; and Michael Schiffer, the Agency for International Development’s assistant administrator for Asia.
“The delegation presented a number of new initiatives responsive to Papua New Guinea’s most pressing development and security priorities, advancing this critical Pacific partnership,” a White House statement said.
The visit is part of a whole-of-government approach to addressing PNG’s challenges and advancing the two nations’ mutually beneficial relationship. That includes deploying civil affairs and medical training teams to the island nation, working to resolve a fuel crisis, supporting the PNG Electrification Project to improve connectivity, partnering to improve disaster preparedness and response, issuing grants for professional development and educational exchanges, initiatives to enhance policing and prevent gender-based violence, and helping arrange financing to bolster the PNG Defence Force (PNGDF), the White House reported.
The visit paralleled the kickoff of Tamiok Strike, a bilateral military exercise focused on tactical interoperability and cultural exchanges hosted by the PNGDF and sponsored by U.S. Army Pacific. The two-week engagement, which involved about 100 personnel, took place at Murray Barracks in Port Moresby and Igam Barracks in Lae.
Meanwhile, Australia’s biennial Pitch Black exercise drew international military aviators, including from PNG’s recently formed Air Force, to Queensland and the Northern Territory, Reuters reported. “It is a learning experience for us,” Maj. Randall Hepota, one of six PNG pilots flying P-750 turboprops, told the news service.
During the Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting in Tokyo in mid-July 2024, PNG Prime Minister James Marape and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also noted progress in defense cooperation between their nations.
