23/06/2026
Inaugural National Workshop for the PNG Nature Pact (Country Package), opening ceremony in présence of Hon. Prime Minister James Marape.
Speech by French Ambassador Pierre Fournier :
Hon. Prime Minister, it is both an honour and a great pleasure for me to stand by your side, and before you all, one month after your visit to France and as we celebrated yesterday, very precisely, the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Papua New Guinea and France, established on 22 June 1976. I want to see this coincidence of dates as a very auspicious sign for the future of our cooperation in general and for this Country Package in particular.
A month ago, Prime Minister, you were in Paris alongside our President, Emmanuel Macron, and you presented him with the logo and motto of the PNG Nature Pact, the national programme for forests and climate. This Country Package, which we are, in a sense, carrying to the baptismal font with this first seminar, could not have come into being – after three years of tireless work by our teams – under a more auspicious star.
So, it is this joint team that I would like to thank first and foremost – in particular Diana Gora and our French expert Maëlle Vandierendonck, who have been the driving forces behind it. In this regard, I am pleased to announce that our respective governments have just approved the extension of Maëlle’s contract for a further year in support of this initiative, within your department, Prime Minister. All the more so as this contract is accompanied by a budget of 2.5 million kina allocated by our Ministry of Foreign Affairs to assist with the establishment of the ‘Country Package’ secretariat. This budget has notably been used to design the visual identity of the PNG Nature Pact, but it also fully funds this three-day workshop, including the facilitation team from ONFi, the international branch of the French National Forestry Office.
For over a decade, France has been working on the international stage to forge partnerships between states and between public and private stakeholders, with a view to taking concrete and effective action in crucial areas such as poverty eradication, the climate emergency and nature conservation. This was the very essence of the Paris Agreement, the 10th anniversary of which we celebrated last November.
The effects of climate change are already visible in Papua New Guinea, as in the rest of the world, sometimes in an increasingly severe and dramatic manner. As I speak, France is sweltering under extreme temperatures, with record-breaking heatwaves the likes of which it has never experienced before. Globally, billions of euros are being channelled into climate change mitigation, adaptation, and the conservation of biodiversity. However, in a world marked by uncertainty, facing growing challenges, with fewer resources dedicated to climate action and where conflicts are on the rise, there is an urgent need for coordination at all levels to ensure that the funds committed have a real impact on the people and communities that need them most.
‘Country Packages’ represent innovative and alternative ways of funding the conservation of major forest ecosystems, peatlands and mangroves – which are essential reservoirs of carbon and biodiversity – as well as the adaptation and resilience of the communities for whom these ecosystems are the main source of life. The strength of such an initiative lies in coordination amongst all stakeholders – coordination aimed at avoiding duplication, prioritising and streamlining actions, optimising impact on the ground, and ensuring that every single euro, dollar or kina invested in the projects reaches its intended destination; coordination, finally, in which donors are naturally involved but which is led directly by PNG: This Country Package, Prime Minister, is your Country Package.
The ‘30 by 2030’ agenda is not be a final objective, but a first step and a minimum target that all countries must strive to achieve. Papua New Guinea’s Nature Pact will form part of this approach, and I would like to tell you a little more about what France is doing, hand in hand with Papua New Guinea, to make progress towards this objective and towards a safer environment for all the world’s citizens.
Following the announcement of the ‘Country Package’ on forests in 2023, two major French institutions have opened national offices in Port Moresby:
The first is the French Development Agency (AFD). The AFD identifies, develops and finances development projects around the world, and I am pleased to say that its largest portfolio in the Pacific is here in Papua New Guinea, with several programmes, one of which will contribute directly to the realisation of the five pillars of the ‘Country Package’: the SoNG project (standing for Solwara Na Graun blo Pipol – ‘The ocean and the land for the people’), launched last December.
Also, this is a grant of 85 million kina, implemented by Expertise France and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), under the supervision of CEPA, to ensure consistency with Papua New Guinea’s national policies on biodiversity and protected areas. This programme is designed to maximise impact on the ground. It aims to work closely with local communities and national agencies to preserve marine and forest biodiversity through capacity-building programmes, scholarships and research grants.
As announced in Paris during your meeting, Prime Minister, with the Director-General of AFD, the Agency is partnering with the European Union and the European Investment Bank for the ecological rehabilitation of the port of Rabaul, a project worth over 400 million kina comprising both loans and grants. And I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate here that we are eagerly awaiting the final signing of this project, which we hope will take place in the coming weeks.
The other French organisation active in this field, which is also part of the AFD Group, is Expertise France. It has been present in Papua New Guinea since 2023 as an implementing partner of the EU-FCCB, a project entirely funded by the European Union, an essential partner in the initiative that brings us together today. Expertise France opened a national office in POM in 2025 and is currently implementing several projects in the fields of climate and biodiversity, notably SoNG.
Prime Minister, as I mentioned, the ‘Country Package’ is one of the flagship pillars of the renewed bilateral cooperation, which extends to many other areas. Your recent visit to France highlighted many of these aspects:
In the field of security and defence, with the signing by our Foreign Ministers of a Shiprider Agreement, following the signing of the SoFA in 2023, as well as the training provided by French forces in New Caledonia for the Papua New Guinea Defence Force (PNGDF).
In the field of cultural cooperation, with the temporary exhibition at the Quai Branly Museum, entitled ‘Feathers of Paradise’, which you visited with President Macron, showcasing PNG’G unique Cultural Heritage.
In the field of development, with the AFD exploring new projects in Papua New Guinea (green finance, for which a new grant was announced at the Green Finance Summit in late May, the port of Rabaul mentioned earlier, and many others besides)
At a time when international partnerships and the world order are undergoing profound change, France’s commitment to working hand in hand with our partners to achieve the objectives of the Paris Agreement and those of the United Nations Ocean Conference is more relevant than ever, and the work we are carrying out together, here in PNG, is one of its finest examples.
Prime Minister, you have chosen the word ‘Pact’ to describe your Country Package. It is a very powerful word, one that commits us collectively and individually; above all, it signifies not only a contractual commitment, but also the highest moral commitment, for which we will be accountable to future generations.
It is because he fully appreciates what such a pact entails, and because he has confidence in your country’s ability to fulfil it, that President Macron told you, during the dinner at the Élysée Palace, that with this Country Package – this ‘Nature Pact’ – Papua New Guinea is destined to set an example on the international stage.
We count on you and you can count on us.
Thank you.
