WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th May, 2023) US President Joe Biden will sign defense and satellite surveillance agreements with Papua New Guinea during his historic visit to the Pacific Island nation later this month, PNG Foreign Minister Justin Tkachenko told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.
According to Tkachenko, the defense cooperation agreement was finalized last week, "which now allows us to officially sign it when Biden comes here."
Another deal to be signed will allow the US Coast Guard to patrol PNG's exclusive economic zone, with the island nation's officials on board as "ship riders." The agreement will also cover satellite surveillance, the minister told Reuters.
"We will be able to utilize the US satellite security systems. Once we sign that it will help monitor our waters, which we can't at the moment," Tkachenko stated.
The minister called it a "fantastic agreement" to protect the country's natural resources from being illegally poached and stolen, especially fishing.
In addition, the US will double its development assistance to the country to $32 million, including $25 million to tackle climate change, the report said, citing State Department documents submitted to the US Congress.
Biden will visit Papua New Guinea while traveling from the G7 Leaders' Summit in Hiroshima, Japan to the Quad Leaders' Summit in Sydney, Australia later this month. He will become the first sitting US president to visit a Pacific Island country.
The Papua New Guinea trip comes as the US is seeking to counter China's rising influence in the region, especially in light of the security pact that Beijing struck with the Solomon Islands last year.
