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PM agrees !
to PNG's
request for
aid review
PORT MORESBY, Tuesday (AAP).
- The Prime Minister of Australia, Mr
Fraser, has agreed to consider Papua
New Guinea's request for increased aid.
The Prime Minister of PNG, Mr
Somarc, said today he expected the
review to be held next February.
Under a five-year aid agreement that
expires in September, 1985, Australia
granted PNG S253 million in direct,
untied, aid. PNG's annual budget is
about $1,028 million.
Mr Somare said the PNG Govern
ment had requested an earlier mid-term
review of the five-year agreement.
He said Mr Fraser had stated that the
Foreign Minister of PNG, Mr Namaliu,
and the Australian Minister for Foreign
Affairs, Mr Street, would meet later
next month to finalise terms of the
review.
Mr Somare said the review would
include consideration of aid levels for
the current Australian financial year, as
well as the remaining years of the
agreement.
Mr Somare's remarks about the for
eign ministers' meeting surprised Aus
tralian officials in Port Moresby.
A spokesman for the Department of
Foreign Affairs said in Canberra last
night he knew of no meeting scheduled
between the two ministers other than
meetings they might have at the Com
monwealth Heads of Government
Regional Meeting, which begins in Fiji
tomorrow.
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