PAPUA New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape said he would ask Timor-Leste to provide 200 defence personnel for a proposed multinational force to help secure and supervise PNG’s 2027 national election.
Marape raised the request during talks with Timor-Leste President José Ramos-Horta on the sidelines of Vanuatu’s 46th Independence anniversary celebrations.
The proposed deployment would form part of a 1,000-member regional election security and observation team, with 200 personnel each from Timor-Leste, Vanuatu, Fiji, Solomon Islands, Australia and New Zealand.
The Solomon Islands has already agreed to participate, Marape said.
“External support is vital to our strategy to lengthen actual polling time, allowing our citizens a peaceful environment to choose their leaders,” Marape said.
A PNG Cabinet paper is expected to set out the proposed structure of the force before formal requests are sent to the participating countries, according to the statement.
PNG has frequently faced logistical and security challenges during national elections, including unrest, delays and limited access to polling stations.
The proposed regional deployment would aim to create a more secure environment and allow voting to continue for longer periods, Marape said.
The discussions also produced a proposal for a joint scholarship programme under which PNG and Timor-Leste would share the cost of sponsored places for Timorese students at PNG institutions.
Under the proposed dollar-for-dollar arrangement, each country would finance half of the scholarships.
Timor-Leste students would be eligible to study across PNG’s university, technical and legal education systems, including programmes in law, mining engineering and tropical medicine.
“PNG is ready to open the doors of our universities, technical trade schools, and law institutions to the future leaders of Timor-Leste,” Marape said.
The two leaders are expected to pursue the scholarship and other education initiatives during Marape’s planned reciprocal visit to Timor-Leste.
The two governments could sign memorandums of understanding during that visit, Marape said.
The talks also covered political issues involving Bougainville and West Papua, as well as broader efforts to deepen ties between the two countries.
Marape and Ramos-Horta have sought to build on their countries’ historical and cultural links, including their shared connections to the Melanesian region.
The statement said an estimated 20 per cent to 25 per cent of Timor-Leste’s population has direct Melanesian-Papuan ancestry.
