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'Associate member' status for Indonesia in MSG
Jakarta Post - May 13, 2015
Indonesia, which achieved observer status at the MSG in 2011, has been stepping up efforts to acquire full membership.
The MSG is an inter-governmental organization comprising PNG, Vanuatu, Salomon Islands and Fiji. The main goal is to boost economic development within the Pacific Island states.
"We have also agreed about Papua New Guinea's support for Indonesia becoming an associate member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, which PNG will gladly endorse and pursue with the other leaders of the Melanesian group," O'Neill said on Tuesday during a joint press conference with President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo after the two held bilateral talks.
O'Neill told Jokowi on Monday that application for membership by the ULMWP – which is a grouping of three West Papuan groups, namely the Federal Republic of West Papua, the West Papua National Parliament and the West Papua National Coalition for Liberation (WPNCL) – would require Indonesia's endorsement.
Last year at the annual MSG Leaders' Summit in Port Moresby, the WPNCL's membership application was rejected. The group, however, re-submitted its application at MSG headquarters in Port Vila, Vanuatu, in February, and is still awaiting response.
MSG leaders are expected to discuss the application in the Solomon Islands as the summit, which is planned for sometime in June or July. Foreign Minister Retno LP Marsudi is expected to attend the event as an observer.
With Indonesia's status as an associate member, O'Neill added, Indonesians of Melanesian descent in Maluku, North Maluku, Papua, West Papua and East Nusa Tenggara would be able to participate in the region's cultural and trade activities organized by the MSG.
Such participation is expected to further strengthen ties between Melanesian people in the region, particularly between PNG and Indonesia, which share a border, O'Neill said.
O'Neill also expressed PNG's aim to boost access to the telecommunications, power generation and road infrastructure sectors in a bid to create business opportunities with Indonesia.
On Tuesday, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on combating transnational crime – which Jokowi said would cover narcotics and terrorism – and another MoU on human-resource development in the oil and energy sector.
"Prime Minister O'Neill and I agreed to build closer ties and create more intensive cooperation between Indonesia and PNG as part of our 40-year celebration of diplomatic relations [to be celebrated this year]," Jokowi said.
According to Jokowi, the two also agreed to improve economic cooperation, particularly with respect to investment and infrastructure, and to support the participation of the private sector in the energy, telecommunications and fisheries industries.
The two countries, Jokowi said, had also agreed to boost connectivity by encouraging the two countries' national flag carriers – Garuda Indonesia (Indonesia) and Air Niugini (PNG) – to open routes connecting Port Moresby with Bali, Jakarta and Singapore.
As part of his effort to pay greater attention to Indonesia's poorly developed eastern provinces, Jokowi visited Maluku, North Maluku, Papua and West Papua before flying to PNG.
The President and his entourage left PNG on Tuesday and arrived in Surabaya, East Java, to attend the opening of the Democratic Party congress.
The MSG is an inter-governmental organization comprising PNG, Vanuatu, Salomon Islands and Fiji.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/05/13/associate-member-status-indonesia-msg.html.
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