Aid projects on P.M.’s agenda

Press, 1 February 1983, Page 6

Aid projects on P.M.’s agenda

NZPA Hong Kong New Zealand aid projects in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia will be highlighted during visits by the Prime Minister. Mr Muldoon, in the next nine days. Mr Muldoon is due in Singapore from Switzerland today for an overnight stay before heading to Port Moresby aboard an R.N.Z.A.F. Boeing 727 aircraft. He will make use of the overnight stay to attend a private dinner being given for him by the Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Kuan Yew. In Port Moresby. Mr Muldoon will waste no time in becoming involved in talks on bilateral and international matters which form an important part of any official visit. He will meet the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. Mr Michael Somare, soon after his arrival and

will be a guest at a dinner which Mr Somare Will hold in his honour. On Thursday morning, a courtesy visit to the Gover-nor-General, Sir Tore Locoloco. will be followed by a meeting to be attended by senior Ministers of the national planning committee. The chairman of the meeting will be the Deputy Prime Minister. Mr Paias Wingti. Injuries suffered in an aircraft accident last week may prevent the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Mr Rabbie Namaliu. from attending. Mr Muldoon will then spend l‘z days visiting New Zealand joint ventures and aid projects in Papua New Guinea. He will first go to a forestry joint venture at Alotau near the southern tip of Papua New Guinea, and then travel to Goroka in the eastern highlands. At Goroka he will spend Friday morning inspecting

New Zealand aid projects involved with sheep raising and bee keeping, and after lunching with the provincial governor will head for the commercial coastal centre of Lae. where his programme involves a visit to the timber industry training college established with New Zealand help. Mr Muldoon will return to Port Moresby that evening, and on Saturday he will officially open the new SNZI million chancery for the NewZealand High Commission. The chancery, the commission's office block, w-as designed in New Zealand and built by a New ZealandPapua New Guinea joint venture company. High Commission staff are expected to move into it later this month. Mr Somare is expected to attend the opening ceremony, and both Prime Ministers will mark the occasion by planting a tr?e. Mr Muldoon will be host at

a dinner for Mr Somare on Saturday evening. The main reason for Mr Muldoon's visit to Indonesia is to accompany President Suharto to the commissioning of a 30-megawatt geothermal power station at Kamojang. West Java. He will fly to Jakarta on Sunday. Kamojang is New Zealand’s most expensive aid project to date, having cost nearly SNZ3O million over nine years. The New Zealand involvement included proving the resource, developing the steamfield, designing the power station, and helping to construct and equip it. Largely as a result of the success of the Kamojang project. Indonesia is embarking on a big programme to develop geothermal energy. Mr Muldoon will be in Indonesia until February 8 and the visit provides an opportunity for the talks with President Suharto and

his Ministers. In Singapore. Port Moresby and Jakarta. Mr Muldoon is expected to further advance his argument for a world conference on international trade and finance. Regional security concerns. particularly the situation in Indo-China and the build-up of a Soviet presence in both the Pacific and Indian Ocean, are also likely to be raised. In both Port Moresby and Jakarta, Mr Muldoon mayfind New Zealand being asked to import more local goods. New Zealand enjoys a comfortable trade surplus in its favour with Papua New Guinea, which has a struggling economy still dependent on financial help from Australia. Indonesian sales of condensate have in recent years tipped the trade balance' with New Zealand well into its favour.