EMBASSY NEWS update

PELELIU PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP COMPLETES

MISSION IN PNG

PORT MORESBY U.S. military personnel and volunteers from NGOs aboard the USS Peleliu, working with the Papua New Guinea government and several partner nations, completed ten days of humanitarian and civic assistance mission in Madang Province, Papua New Guinea earlier this month.  Partner nations included India, Canada, Vietnam, the Republic of Korea, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand.

The Pacific Partnership Mission was made possible through the support of the Papua New Guinea government and defense force, local

CAPTION:  Mr. Morea Veratau receiving his travel package from U.S. Embassy
Deputy Chief of Mission, Mr. Thomas Weinz.

PORT MORESBY - Mr. Morea Veratau, Director of Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa (AEMEA) Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs, returned to Port Moresby on May 7, after attending the “Symposium on East Asia Security” (SEAS).  The three-week program was sponsored by the United States government and included participants from Australia, Cambodia, China, South Korea, Japan, Marshall Islands, Philippines, Tonga and Papua New Guinea.

The SEAS 2008 objectives were to reinforce multilateral theater security cooperation and support for counter-terrorism activities, and to build on and expand the multilateral network of regional security specialists founded on the personal interactions and relationships development during the SEAS experience.

The intensive three-week program focused on regional security, U.S. security policies and operations.  It began at the United States Pacific Command (PACOM) headquarters in Honolulu, and included discussion of regional security concerns from the participants. The symposium then moved overseas to exchange views with civilian government officials and military forces engaged in regional security affairs with a special thematic focus on the rise of China and India as regional and global actors.  The program also examined issues related to current and future security concerns for countries in the East Asia Region.  The participants also visited country capitals and other selected cities in China and India.

The United States Embassy is proud to have nominated Mr. Veratau for this program. Colonel Joseph Fabila, PNG Defense Force attended a similar program in 2007.  The Symposium on East Asia Security (SEAS) was initiated in 1986 and is jointly funded by the U.S. Pacific Command and the U.S. Department of State.

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