Papua New Guinea will be opening their embassy in Jerusalem next week, according to Channel 14 political reporter Tamir Morag. The decision was made back in February of this year, after a phone call between Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen and his Papua New Guinean counterpart, Justin Tkatchenko.
Prime Minister James Marape will arrive in Israel on September 4 to inaugurate the new embassy on Tuesday of next week.
The two countries have had diplomatic relations since 1978 but never established embassies. The Southwest Pacific Island nation, with some 12 million inhabitants, is currently represented in Israel by a consulate in the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat HaSharon.
Papua is the seventh country to announce it is opening its embassy in Jerusalem, there were two announcements just in the past two weeks alone (Paraguay and Sierra Leone). They are joining the USA, Honduras, Guatemala and Kosovo.
According to the report by Morag, Papua is now part of the growing struggle for dominance between the US and China. China has been investing in the island in order to make more inroads, while Biden was supposed to visit the Papua in May, but the trip was cancelled.
Morag says that in recent years, Papua New Guinea has generally not supported the anti-Israel votes in the UN, and Israel has provided them assistance in the fields of agriculture, medicine and humanitarian aid.
There’s even a Jewish historical connection to Papua New Guinea.
Content by Pesach Benson/TPS was used in this report.
