Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape met Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday (July 14 2022) at the Grand Pacific Hotel in Suva, prior to the convening of the 51st PIF Leaders Retreat at the PIF Secretariat Headquarters. Being the first meeting since PM Albanese was elected, their initial exchanges were practical and reassuring. PNG PM Marape meets Australian PM Albanese [Photo by PNG Government Media] PM Marape, at the outset, acknowledged the strong and excellent bilateral relations between PNG and Australia and took the occasion to congratulate PM Albanese on his recent election as Prime Minister of Australia. Relations between the two countries have matured and strengthened since PNG’s Independence in 1975. Most recently, the Australian Government provided much-needed budgetary support to PNG at the height of COVID-19. “Australia stepped in at a very critical period by providing this budgetary support that enabled us to reconfigure and tidy our publi