Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is greeted by PNG officials at Port Moresby as he arrives for the India-Pacific Islands cooperation summit. Photo: AFP
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has touched down in Papua New Guinea (PNG) ahead of a significant US-Pacific summit.
Pacific Island Forum leaders will meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Port Moresby later today.
America is poised to sign a deal with PNG that may give US armed forces uninhibited access to the island nation's territorial waters and airspace.
Securing an agreement of this type with Papua New Guinea would be "as important as the South Pacific gets", according to Professor of Strategic Studies at Victoria University of Wellington Rob Ayson.
"This is a chance for the United States to say, we are ourselves a Pacific country, we're here to stay, and we want to make a significant commitment to the region's future and in particular, we don't want China to rule the roost."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives in Papua New Guinea. Photo: AFP
The summit is Hipkins' first chance for face-to-face meetings with Pacific leaders in the top job, and it's a whirlwind 23 hours on the ground.
He is set to have bilateral meetings with PNG Prime Minister James Marape, Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"It will be an opportunity to catch up with [Pacific leaders] and a good opportunity to further the relationship with India as well; a relationship that's also very important to New Zealand," Hipkins said.
The New Zealand government has so far downplayed the significance of a US-PNG security pact, having last year described a smaller agreement between China and Solomon Islands as "gravely concerning".
Speaking before boarding the plane to Papua New Guinea, Hipkins was asked if Aotearoa had any concerns about the US-PNG agreement and militarisation in the Pacific.
"Ultimately that's a matter for those two countries. They're both autonomous countries, they can enter into whatever arrangements they like. It's a matter for them."
Speaking in Parliament last week, Defence Minister Andrew Little said he hadn't seen the detail of the draft security pact but was not surprised it was in the works.
"The US is showing a much greater interest in the Pacific now. Papua New Guinea is traditionally linked to Australia, New Zealand and the US to assist with its security arrangements, so it doesn't surprise me that there is a renewed arrangement."
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta reiterated Pacific Island Forum leaders had and would continue to work together on regional security issues.
"I think the PIF forum have highlighted that the Boe Declaration, which reaffirms our commitment to regional security issues, is something to be upheld. I am sure that Pacific partners as they make their various determinations about their security interests will keep that in mind."
