Papua New Guinea is an island country that lies in the south-western Pacific. It includes the eastern half of New Guinea and many small offshore islands. Its neighbours include Indonesia to the west, Australia to the south and Solomon Islands to the south-east. It is mainly mountainous but has low-lying plains in southern New Guinea. The country has several active volcanoes.

Key facts

Region: Pacific

Population: 8.6 million (2018)

Area: 463,000 square kilometres

Capital: Port Moresby

Joined Commonwealth: 1975, following independence from Australia-administered UN trusteeship

Commonwealth Youth Index: 32 out of 49 countries

Secretariat support for Papua New Guinea

Elections support

The Commonwealth observed elections in Papua New Guinea in June and July 2017. After the elections, it helped the country prepare strategies to make future elections more fair, trusted and inclusive.

The Commonwealth Elections Professionals Initiative helped Papua New Guinea build skills in elections management.

Debt management

Papua New Guinea has used the Secretariat's debt management system to collect better data on its public debt.

Natural resources

The Secretariat worked with Papua New Guinea to manage income from its natural resources. It helped the country learn about laws, policies, contracts and taxation in this area.

The Secretariat helped the government build skills to manage its sovereign wealth fund (a state-owned investment fund used to benefit a country’s economy and citizens).

It also helped the government to prepare to negotiate with the International Seabed Authority (ISA).

Papua New Guinea in the Commonwealth

In 2012, the Commonwealth Youth Ministers Meeting was hosted by Papua New Guinea.

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