Pranab’s visit sees MoUs on IT, health

Four MoUs were signed on the second and final day of President Mukherjee’s visit, the first state visit by an Indian head of state.

President Pranab Mukherjee is presented a memento at an Indian Community Reception at Port Moresby.

India is looking to explore and develop Papua New Guinea’s vast oil and gas resources through joint ventures and investments from both the Indian private and public sectors in ongoing and new projects.

The Pacific island country agreed that oil and gas exploration and development could be a new avenue of cooperation between the two countries, keeping in view India’s desire to achieve energy security, said a joint statement issued by the two countries at the end of a two-day visit by President Pranab Mukherjee.

Natural gas discovery

Indian companies are looking at projects coming up in Papua New Guinea after natural gas was discovered in the country’ s Southern Highland Province. Gas discoveries elsewhere in the country have evoked interest among Indian companies that believe they could participate in associated projects as well as in some gas blocks. Papua New Guinea is estimated to have 35 trillion cubic feet of natural gas as recoverable reserves.

India agreed to provide a line of credit of $100 million to Papua New Guinea for infrastructure projects and signed a pact to set up a ‘Centre of Excellence’ in information technology.

The request for the line of credit had been made in August 2015 by Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill during a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of a summit of the Forum for India-Pacific Islands Cooperation.

Four memorandums of understanding were signed on the second and final day of President Mukherjee’s visit, the first state visit by an Indian head of state to the island nation.

Papua New Guinea reiterated its support for India’s claim for permanent membership in the UN Security Council and agreed to expedite a proposed Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA) to facilitate investments. It announced visa-on-arrival facility for Indian tourists.

Apart from MoUs on extending a line of credit and information technology, other agreements related to cooperation on agricultural research and health.

Mr. Mukherjee announced that India would provide anti-retroviral drugs and equipment to benefit 20,000 HIV positive patients in Papua New Guinea, a figure that would help at least half the number of those suffering from the disease.

UNAIDS estimates say that between 37,000 and 41,000 people were living with HIV in 2014 in the country, which has a population of about eight million.

The President said India would assist capacity-building and human resource development, besides offering to share its advanced techniques and technologies in the agriculture sector.