Australia’s High Commissioner to PNG, John Feakes, appears to have taken a coded swipe at the Asian Development Bank for awarding contracts to foreign state-owned companies.
Mr Feakes promised a package comprising of grants and loans adding up to 621 million dollars between now and 2029.
“Kimbe will be the first of five major port upgrades supported by Australia in Papua New Guinea. As projects commence, more regions will share in the economic benefits of improved maritime connectivity and access to employment and skills development,” said Mr Feakes.
“I want to contrast this approach with some of our multilateral development partners, who rely almost exclusively on foreign state owned firms, which deliver without local labor and sometimes without local supplies,” he added.
“The companies themselves have been known to be involved in geopolitics, whether or not it’s a port or a bridge or whatever it might be, these companies have been involved in the past in encouraging countries, for example, to move away from Taiwan and towards China.”