6 Nov 2012

PNG wants NZ aid support to be part of sustainable economic future

7:17 am on 6 November 2012

The New Zealand Foreign Minister says Papua New Guinea wants this country's aid support to be part of its sustainable economic future.

Murray McCully met with the PNG government in Port Moresby last week and briefly visited the country's Highlands region.

The minister says PNG wants access to New Zealand's expertise in food production and geothermal power generation and wants the aid funding to help setup partnerships with New Zealand companies.

Much of the aid package currently goes into health and education programmes and Mr McCully says this will continue.

"What we are waiting for is a review of how they see the operations of their development partners and the co-ordination of their development partners, and they have effectively put us on notice that they may well ask us to slim down the areas of focus, particularly into those areas where we've got some traditional expertise and natural capability."

Murray McCully.