Papua New Guinea has reiterated its plan to open a flight route from Mount Hagen to Jayapura during a meeting of the Border Liaison Officers held in Port Moresby, an Indonesian official said.
Papua New Guinea will soon realize its plan but has not set a specific date for it, Director for East Asia and the Pacific at the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, Edy Yusuf, said on Tuesday.
Yusuf said the Indonesian government is prepared to help realize the plan soon.
“Indonesia is ready to help Papua New Guinea realize the plan since there is no flight from Papua to Papua New Guinea,” he added.
The head of the Indonesian delegation to the meeting, Klemen Tinal, who is also the deputy governor of Papua, shared Yusufs view and expressed the hope that the plan would come to fruition soon.
Most citizens of Papua New Guinea who live in Vanimo visit Indonesia by land through borders between Wutung in Papua New Guinea and Skouw in Indonesia, as well as by sea, he informed.
If the plan to open the flight route is realized, they will no longer need to travel to Papua by land or sea, he stressed.