Australian High Commission
Papua New Guinea

MR 070604 Goroka

MEDIA RELEASE

4 June 2007

For immediate release

PNG PROJECTS ADMIRED ON WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY

 

The Australian High Commissioner, His Excellency Mr Chris Moraitis, will spend World Environment Day visiting sustainable agricultural projects in PNG.

Mr Moraitis will visit the National Agricultural Research Institute (NARI) and the Coffee Research Institute (CRI) tomorrow as part of a three-day trip to Eastern Highlands Province. The visit coincides with World Environment Day, an annual event which is designed to stimulate worldwide awareness of the environment.

Both NARI and CRI are supported by the Australian Government through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), a statutory agency which is part of the Australian aid program.

Mr Moraitis will visit a peanut project near Aiyura, which is part of a wider program to increase peanut production to boost incomes for smallholder farmers. He will also visit a tissue culture facility shared by NARI and CRI and will be shown a new environmentally-friendly coffee processor which is part of an ACIAR project to improve coffee quality. He will visit the CRI insectory where insects are being grown that will form part of a management strategy against the coffee green scale pest.

Mr Moraitis said: “Australia and PNG have a shared commitment to the development of PNG and that includes through agriculture.

“These projects are an excellent example of Australia and PNG working in partnership, in this case NARI, CRI, Australian project partners and ACIAR.

“I am particularly pleased to be visiting these projects on World Environment Day. The Australian Government is committed to achieving the conservation of the environment both in Australia and internationally.”

Today Mr Moraitis will visit the ATprojects facility outside Goroka. ATprojects aims to enable rural people to use appropriate technologies to give them more control over their lives and contribute to the sustainable development of their communities. In 2005 the Australian Government provided funding to ATprojects under the Head of Mission Direct Aid Program (HOMDAP), which it used to set up an innovative radio-based internet system.

 

Media Inquiries: Raymond Palangat, Public Diplomacy Officer, T: 325 9333 ext 454