French President Emmanuel Macron and Papua New Guinea PM James Marape met in Paris on 20 May 2026. Photo: Emmanuel Macron-Élysée
Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister James Marape was on an official visit to France last week, where he met French President Emmanuel Macron, and also held a number of important meetings to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Topping the list, through a joint communiqué, came the announcement of the setting up of a new PNG embassy in Paris. Currently, the closest PNG embassy is in Brussels, Belgium.
The opening of Papua New Guinea's embassy in Paris was based on the two nations "sharing a common commitment to democratic values, multilateralism, international law", as well as in favour of "peace, stability and resilience in the face of climate change ... and for the protection of environment and biodiversity", including forest protection.
On social networks, Macron described Papua New Guinea's forests as "the true lungs of the Pacific".
The diplomatic joint message also stressed the common will to "strengthen friendship and cooperation" relations.
Macron visited Papua New Guinea in July 2023, as part of a regional tour that also included New Caledonia and neighbouring Vanuatu.
On the political front, Marape also led a delegation to the French National Assembly (Lower House), which at the time was engaged in heated debates regarding New Caledonia.
The PNG delegation's presence in the Parliament's gallery was hailed and underlined by National Assembly Speaker Yaël Braun-Pivet, followed by a round of applause from the French MPs.
"Since we arrived, we have felt very much at home and very welcome," Marape said.
But apart from his encounter with Macron on Wednesday last week, Marape also had significant contacts with major development aid stakeholder AFD (Agence Française de Développement) and aircraft industry's ATR, based in Toulouse (Southwest of France).
The ATR call was said to respond to PNG plans to expand their current fleet of turbo-prop regional aircraft.
Since 2015, PNG Air currently operates 10 ATR 72-600 aircraft and plans to gradually expand its ATR fleet to 18 aircraft - a mix of ATR 72-600 (72 seats) and ATR 42-600 (42 seats).
ATR is currently finalising the construction of three aircraft to be delivered to PNG Air.
"Papua New Guinea is one of the most geographically challenging countries in the world, and aviation remains a lifeline service for our people, businesses, government services, and the broader economy," Marape said in France.
Meeting the AFD top officials, Marape also touched on a crucial strategic development project in Rabaul (East New Britain province), which is described as a "green port" project supported under the EU's "Global Gateway" scheme.
The target would be for Rabaul to turn into a regional import-export hub, supporting cocoa, fisheries, sustainable timber, tourism, manufacturing and downstream processing.
At an estimated cost of over €80 million, the project includes developments in terms of wharves, storage facilities, export-focused fish processing infrastructure, waste and wastewater systems, emissions reduction and port resilience measures.
The rest would come from the European Investment Bank (€24m) and from an EU grant (€16.6m).
Other projects supported by AFD include the "SONG" project ("Solwara Na Graun blo pipol"), which supports the conservation and sustainable management of forest and marine ecosystems through the establishment of marine and terrestrial protected areas, a major issue for PNG and the region.
