Prime Minister Chris Hipkins speaks to Mike Hosking after US-Pacific Summit

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins visited Papua New Guinea for just 23 hours for the United States-Pacific Summit.

The US is poised to sign a deal with PNG that may give American armed forces uninhibited access to the island nation’s territorial waters and airspace.

Listen live: Prime Minister Chris Hipkins speaks to Mike Hosking at 7.30am

After the summit, Hipkins spoke to media and said he’d had constructive conversations with Prime Minister of PNG James Marape and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Stephen Brown.

The agreement between the US and PNG was more of an extension of an existing relationship between the two countries, rather than a new thing.

Hipkins said it was not just about military presence, but also about development and relationship.

“New Zealand doesn’t support militarisation of the Pacific. Having said that a military presence doesn’t necessarily signify militarisation.

“For example, New Zealand has a military presence in the Pacific regularly following natural disasters, we send military assets up here to support countries that have been affected by natural disasters.”

“We shouldn’t assume that all military partnerships are necessarily about conflict”.

He says the New Zealand message to all Pacific nations is we are a trusted partner with the interests of all Pacific nations at heart, but recognises they are sovereign nations.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins being welcomed into Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. Photo / RNZ

The summit was Hipkins’ first chance for face-to-face meetings with Pacific leaders in the top job after he pulled out of an earlier engagement because of Cyclone Gabrielle.

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