Papua New Guinea was honoured to be given the opportunity to contribute to the 15th Seoul Defence Dialogue discussions from Papua New Guinea’s perspective under the theme: “Evolution of Alliance and Partnerships”.

Together with Australia and New Zealand, Papua New Guinea represents a critical voice for the Pacific Islands region, and Hon. Elias Kapavore, Minister for Defence and Member for Pomio expressed his gratitude to the host, Minister of Defence, His Excellency Ahn Gyu-back for the kind invitation to participate in that important Dialogue.

From the current evolving security landscape, multilateralism is under strain, even as global cooperation continues to deliver in some key areas. 

The world is witnessing fragmentations; protectionist trade policies have become a norm. High levels of uncertainties have been created by the dynamics of the geopolitical environment, rise in sea level and an increase in the experiences from climate change induced disasters.

Minister Kapovore highlighted that Papua New Guinea’s contributions to the dialogue and its evolving role in regional partnerships were centred on several strategic pillars:

1. Papua New Guinea Foreign Policy White Paper 

Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Policy Theme, ‘Strategic Partnerships for Security and Economic Prosperity’ is grounded in our values driven by our national interest, and uided by the enduring principles of sovereignty, mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and constructive internationalism. 

The evolving security challenges and its effects are beyond our individual capacity to address. The current and emerging security issues only demand common solutions from dedicated partners.

Building partnerships with like-minded partners provides that avenue for practical cooperation to address these contemporary security challenges.  

2. Key Contributions and Evolution in Partnerships

For Papua New Guinea, the relationship with our traditional security partners- Australia, United States and New Zealand - have been forged through blood, sweat and tears in the battle fields of World War II. 

Papua New Guinea and Australia recently signed the Mutual Defence Treaty which came into force on the 8th of July 2026, establishing an alliance between our two countries. The Treaty is not targeted at anyone, but to help build our capabilities to be able to address the current and emerging security challenges that are confronting us. We have been transparent with our neighbors, both Indonesia and the Pacific Island countries on the Treaty.

Papua New Guinea and the United States also elevated its Defence relations to a Defence Cooperation Agreement. And I have also recently signed the Statement of Intent on Defence Cooperation with my New Zealand counterpart.

These partnerships are for the purpose of development of defence capabilities and capacity through joint exercises to enhance interoperability and for new infrastructures and facilities to respond to our peculiar security challenges.

Our partnerships with our neighbours will continue to evolve in alignment with the evolving security environment and the demands it meets for us.  

3. Strengthening the ROK-Pacific Security Architecture

Papua New Guinea acknowledge and support South Korea’s diplomatic efforts, aimed at achieving regional stability in the Korean Peninsula which is critical to enabling regional and global stability.

4. Broadening the Security Definition to Non-Traditional Threats

Consistent with broader global and regional security goals, Papua New Guinea’s modern partnerships have evolved to include non-traditional security threats such as Climate Change and Maritime Domain Awareness.

i. Climate Change

The most common security threat in the South Pacific region is the Climate Change induced natural disaster and rising sea level. And as we speak, El-Nino weather pattern is peaking in certain parts of Papua New Guinea, this is having detrimental effect to the current systems and livelihood of our people. We are not alone. I am sure other nations are experiencing similar effect as well.

ii. Maritime Domain Awareness

Secondly, enhanced maritime domain awareness is a critical enabler to address maritime security issues in Papua New Guinea. We have witnessed an increase in Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in the region. Papua New Guinea’s 3 million square kilometers Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) is one of the largest maritime jurisdictional zones in the Pacific. Partnership with US, Australia and New Zealand is having positive effect.

iii. Cyber Security

Irresponsible use of tools associated with Artificial Intelligence is posing a threat to the limited and often vulnerable Information and Communication Technology systems in developing nations. Therefore, partnerships to develop cyber security capabilities to improve our ability to address this emerging security challenges is important.

iv. Strategic Competition

Finally, strategic competition in our region is intensifying, bringing both opportunities and risks. While building international defense partnerships can be beneficial, we must safeguard our sovereignty and uphold the protection of a Rules Based System for peaceful co-existence. 

“Security challenges require collective efforts from every one of us, irrespective of size, developed or otherwise.”

“For developing nations like Papua New Guinea, our strength lies in building partnerships with like-minded partners who are willing to support us build our capability and capacity to respond to current and emerging security challenges not only as a country but as a region.”

The Seoul Defence Dialogue provided a platform for developing nations like Papua New Guinea, an opportunity to share views and contribute in the discussions to enhance collective security.