Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (pictured) will visit Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia from Jan 14 to 19, U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.
On Jan 12, in Honolulu, Hawaii, the secretary will deliver a policy speech focused on Asia-Pacific multilateral engagement and will be consulting with Pacific Command, said spokesman Ian Kelly in a statement.
From Hawaii, Clinton will travel to Papua New Guinea on Jan. 14where she will hold bilateral meetings and meet with local society leaders to discuss environmental protection and women's empowerment.
On Jan 15, Clinton will travel to New Zealand for meeting with Prime Minister John Key and other senior officials. She will also hold meetings with New Zealand citizens and U.S. and New Zealand veterans.
The secretary will travel to Australia on Jan17.
In Canberra, Clinton, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and their Australian counterparts Stephen Smith and John Falkner will participate in the 25th Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations to discuss key global and regional security challenges.
What a great opportunity to show-off PNG's developments that do not get aired very often or not at all. In terms of women's empowerment, what will PNG be showing? Thanks for this great news.
ReplyDeleteSecretary for State Hillary Clinton's 6 hour visit to Port Moresby has been widely published in the media since last week but for security reasons no visit program details are out for public consumption.
ReplyDeleteThat's the way the Yanks prefer it. The US Embassy will not release details prior to her touching down in POM.
Mrs Clinton will meet with the PM, Foreign Minister, Dame Carol Kidu and some key Ministers. Some women leaders from a few community interest groups may also be invited to be with Dame Kidu when Mrs Clinton addresses them.
I think this short visit by the Secretary of State is very important for PNG. The Minister for Community Development, Dame Carol, and the women of PNG must present a very strong case for improving the lot of women in the country on this occasion.
The government is still paying lip-service to improving the lives of women. All the key MPs will do in Mrs Clinton's presence is more political rhetoric and platitudes about what they have done or are about to do for the women of PNG. They may not be aware but Mrs Clinton is one smart politician.
Mrs Clinton will have been fully briefed by her State Department and the US Embassy in Port Moresby, and so she will know whether she is getting a true picture of the status of PNG women, or not when she talks to PNG leaders.
The only true report will be the one Dame Kidu presents to her during this short transit visit. The Dame has done so much for the women and youth of PNG, including many disaffected marginalised groups in the community; more so than many of her parliamentarian peers put together.
Mrs Clinton may help a little here when she files her report to her President upon her return to the US. But it is really up to the political leadership of PNG to improve the lot of its women. They have not done much and Mrs. Clinton's brief visit may just be the catalyst our women needs and the report she gets from the Minister for Community Development, Dame Carol Kidu.