Prime Minister Hon. James Marape has welcomed opportunities in various areas, including pharmaceutical manufacturing, with Pakistan.

He expressed this during a meeting today with Pakistan High Commissioner to Papua New Guinea, H.E Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri, who is based in Australia. Mr. Chaudhri also extended an invitation to Prime Minister Marape to visit Pakistan and meet the country’s leadership at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September and the 2024 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa in October.

Prime Minister Marape has directed the Health Department to meet with Mr. Chaudhri to further discuss Pakistan’s assistance with pharmaceutical manufacturing.

Mr. Chaudhri mentioned that Pakistan could offer PNG opportunities in pharmaceutical manufacturing, education with 250 universities and 119 medical schools available, Information Technology, downstream processing of natural resources, education scholarships, manufacturing, agriculture, and low-cost housing.

Prime Minister Marape welcomed all these suggestions by Mr. Chaudhri, stating they aligned with his government’s vision.

“We will be looking at tapping into the expertise that you are offering,” he told Mr. Chaudhri.

“I especially welcome the pharmaceutical suggestion, and if there is a company willing to come in, we are very much willing to host. If there is a pharmaceutical company wanting to PNG, we are very much willing to provide land for them to set up a manufacturing facility.”

Prime Minister Marape emphasised that PNG’s foreign policy is one of “friends to all, enemies to none” and expressed willingness to host any Pakistani companies interested in setting up operations in PNG.

“We look forward to hosting any Pakistan manufacturing companies who want to set up here,” he said.

“We also welcome opportunities for our students to study in Pakistan as well as training opportunities for our public servants .”

Prime Minister Marape added that he would meet Pakistan Prime Minister Hon. Shehbaz Sharif at CHOGM to further progress Pakistan-PNG bilateral relations.