Joint press declaration on Europe Day in Papua New Guinea

May 9, 2025 marks the 75th anniversary of the historic 'Schuman Declaration' which, on 9 May 1950, set out the vision of what became the European Union, with today 27 Member States. All our 145 European Union delegations and offices around the world, as well as the 450 million citizens of the European Union, celebrate “Europe Day”.
The European Union is a political and economic Union based on shared values committed to peace, partnership and cooperation, within our borders and worldwide. Even when faced with the greatest challenges, we stand for unity in diversity, working with our partners to promote open dialogue, shared stability and prosperity as well as universal values.
We have a long established partnership with Papua New Guinea, based on three strong pillars, political, economic, and development cooperation. In this year of Golden Jubilee of Papua New Guinea’s Independence, we look back with great satisfaction at the way we have gone together with our Papua New Guinean friends and partners.
As “Team Europe” and in partnership with the Authorities, we are acting and investing in a sustainable future for Papua New Guinea. Currently the EU has 1 billion Kina of grants invested in projects in Papua New Guinea covering 18 provinces in PNG. The EU-STREIT programme in East and West Sepik trains local producers, maintains roads and builds airstrips to ensure that rural entrepreneurs are better connected to markets both locally and globally. The WASH programmes in Banz and Bougainville aims at bringing clean water to communities, the basis for their health. The EU Forestry Climate Change and Biodiversity programme supports the Papua New Guinean ambition to ensure sustainable management of its natural resources and its transition to a green, carbon neutral economy. We are also strongly committed to our Partnership for Good Governance.
The European Union is rolling out in the world its Global Gateway Strategy to support both the public and private sectors to invest in infrastructure in our partner countries, joining forces between the European Union, its Member States, and their financial institutions to maximise our collective impact in the coming future. In Papua New Guinea, the EU is developing a major investment project aimed at renovating and greening the Rabaul port, thus better connecting East New Britain. Others are underway in the energy and the water domains. They notably involve the European Investment Bank (EIB), the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
We look forward to continuing this collective journey in Papua New Guinea based on common interest, values, dialogue and transparency.
H.E. Jacques FRADIN, Ambassador of the European Union
H.E. Pierre FOURNIER, Ambassador of France
H.E. Mr Michel GOFFIN, Ambassador of Belgium
H.E. Encho DIMITROV, Ambassador of Bulgaria
H.E. Mr. Juraj KOUDELKA, Ambassador of Czechia
H. E. Mr Sten FRIMODT NIELSEN, Ambassador of Denmark
H.E. Ms Beate GRZESKI, Ambassador of Germany
H.E. Mr Tim MAWE, Ambassador of Ireland
H.E. Mr Stavros VENIZELOS, Ambassador-designate of Greece
H.E. Ms Esther MONTERRUBIO VILLAR, Ambassador-designate of Spain
H.E. Ms Betty BERNARDICA PAVELICH, Ambassador of Croatia
H.E. Mr Paolo CRUDELE, Ambassador of Italy
H.E. Mr Antonis SAMMOUTIS, High Commissioner of Cyprus
H.E. Mr Margers KRAMS, Ambassador of Latvia
H.E. Mr Darius DEGUTIS, Ambassador of Lithuania
H.E. Mr Zsolt CSENGER-ZALÁN, Ambassador of Hungary
H.E. Mr Mario FARRUGIA BORG, Ambassador of Malta
H.E. Mrs Ardi STOIOS-BRAKEN, Ambassador-designate of the Netherlands
H.E. Ms Elisabeth KOEGLER, Ambassador of Austria
Hon. Mr Marcin KAWAŁOWSKI, Chargé d’affaires, Embassy of Poland
H.E. Mr Iulian BUGA, Ambassador-designate of Romania
H.E. Mr Tomas FERKO, Ambassador of Slovakia
H.E. Mr Daniel BLOCKERT, Ambassador of Sweden

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