PORT MORESBY – Opposition Leader Don Polye on Tuesday described the trade row on Papua New Guinea’s Ox & Palm as an embarrassment for the country.
“The Prime Minister and his Trade Minister should leave the matter with the Foreign Affairs Minister, whose department has the capacity and systematic memory to deal with it within the protocols of conventions and agreements. It should have easily been dealt with amicably without any complications through the diplomatic channels,” Mr Polye said in a statement.
He said PNG was a “big brother” among the Melanesian countries, adding its lodging trade row with Fiji only reflected naivety and incompetency.
“O’Neill and his minister should bury their heads in shame. I am calling on the Prime Minister to task the Foreign Affairs Minister to handle it as it falls within his ambit,” he said.
Mr Polye, a former foreign affairs minister, likened PNG’s plan to take retaliatory actions against Fiji’s exports as childish and a knee-jerk reaction.
