Papua New Guinea PM keen to attend CHOGM 2013

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill strongly denounced attempts by certain quarters to hamper the hosting of CHOGM 2013 by Sri Lanka and indicated the full backing of his government for the Colombo summit.

He specifically indicated his keen interest to visit Sri Lanka to attend the Commonwealth event and also to travel in Sri Lanka to get firsthand knowledge of the new harbour and airport development as well as on water reservoirs and climate change issues.

The Prime Minister has taken a further step forward in releasing a special media release after a courtesy call made on him by High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Australia Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe who is concurrently accredited to Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu.

The High Commissioner was welcomed by the Prime Minister. The Papua New Guinea Premier recalled the friendly and cordial interaction the Prime Minister had with President Mahinda Rajapaksa during the visit to CHOGM 2011 in Perth.

Having explained the post-conflict development work and the reconciliation initiatives, the High Commissioner briefed the Prime Minister on the progress made with the CHOGM 2013-Sri Lanka and the doubts aired by certain quarters attempting to create a hostile environment with false and unsubstantiated information.

Admiral Samarasinghe also presented the Prime Minister with two special gifts of gems and Ceylon tea.