Australia, Papua New Guinea sign communique after mutual defence treaty stalls

By Kirsty Needham

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met his Papua New Guinea counterpart James Marape in the capital of the largest Pacific Island nation on Wednesday for defence talks after plans to sign a landmark mutual defence treaty stalled.

The two leaders instead signed a defence communique.

Marape told reporters it was in the two countries’ mutual interest to work side by side on defence.

“I made a conscious choice that Australia remains our security partner of choice,” he said, adding Papua New Guinea could not defend its land and ocean space alone, and the deal was in the national interest.

The text of the communique, released by Albanese’s office, said Papua New Guinea and Australia had agreed on the text of a mutual defence treaty, which will be