On Deceember 23rd, Amb. Li Zhengjun hosted a luncheon for the officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Immigration. Secretary Gabriel Pepson, Deputy Secretary Babani Maraga, and other 20 diplomatic officials from the department were present at the luncheon.

Amb. Li extended his cordial greetings to the PNG colleagues for a happy and prosperous New Year. He highly commended the sound momentum of the development of bilateral relations. He said, at the beginning of the year, Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare made a successful official visit to China. The Chinese leaders met Sir Michael and a series of agreements or memoranda of understanding were signed. Recently, at the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Somare met again in Santiago, Chile. President Hu offered 5 million RMB to assist PNG in its endeavor to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS across the country. The foreign ministers of the two countries have met twice also this year at the relevant international meetings. The high level visits and meetings have accelerated the bilateral friendly relations. Amb. Li also illustrated the development in the areas of economic and technical cooperation, trade, education and training in the year (Attached herewith is the speech of Amb.Li).

Mr. Pepson echoed Amb. Li's comments on the bilateral political, economic and cultural relations. He reiterated that the PNG Government would continue to implement the one China policy. He was pleased to see that the Chinese Metallurgical Construction Company would invest millions of US dollars in the Ramu Nickel project. He hoped that more Chinese companies would invest in PNG in future.

Both the Embassy and the Department staffs congratulated each other on the good working relationship during the year and are looking forward to another year of successful cooperation.