Oleh/By : DATO' SERI DR. MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : SRI PERDANA, KUALA LUMPUR
Tarikh/Date : 08/10/87
Tajuk/Title : THE OFFICIAL DINNER IN HONOUR OF
HIS EXCELLENCY SIR KINGSFORD DIBELA
THE GOVERNOR GENERAL OF PAPUA
NEW GUINEA
Your Excellency Sir Kingsford Dibela;
Lady Dibela;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen.
On behalf of the government and people of Malaysia it
gives me great pleasure to welcome Your Excellency and Lady
Dibela to Malaysia. My wife and I are indeed honoured and
privileged to have Your Excellencies with us this evening.
We hope that Your Excellency's stay in Malaysia would be a
memorable one.
2. I wish also to express on behalf of Their Majesties the
Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Raja Permaisuri Agong their
cordial greetings and welcome to Your Excellency and Lady
Dibela and to express His Majesty's deep regret for his
inability to receive Your Excellency as His Majesty is
presently overseas. His Majesty expresses His
confidence that Your Excellency's visit to Malaysia will be
successful.
3. Your Excellency's visit to Kuala Lumpur is a historic
occasion as this is the first visit by a Governor General of
Papua New Guinea to Malaysia. We in Malaysia place great
importance to Your Excellency's visit. I hope that this
visit will not only further strengthen our ties but will
also enable Your Excellency and Lady Dibela to catch a
varied glimpse of Malaysia, see a little of our country and
meet with some of our people.
4. Relations between Papua New Guinea and Malaysia have
always been close and cordial. It is the intention of
the Malaysian Government to maintain, nurture and
invigorate further the relationship between us. Your
Excellency's visit to Malaysia contributes at the highest
level towards consolidating that relationship, symbolising
a friend ship that will withstand changes and time.
5. We in Malaysia follow with keen interest the vigorous
efforts by Your Excellency's government to improve the
economic and social wellbeing of the people of Papua New
Guinea. We have pursued similar objectives and are only too
happy to share our knowledge and experiences. I am
confident that there is indeed great potential for wider
cooperation in trade, economic and technical areas for the
mutual benefits of our two countries. It only remains
for us, particularly our private sector, to identify the
areas and jointly profit from them.
Your Excellency,
6. Malaysia is fully committed to the concept of
cooperation among developing countries, or South-South
Cooperation, not only in trade but also in other aspects of
economic and technical cooperations. We consider the recent
establishment of the Independent Commission of the South,
headed by former President of Tanzania, His Excellency Dr.
Julius Nyerere, as a significant step towards greater
cooperation among developing countries.
7. Malaysia has initiated its own assistance programme -
the Malaysian Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP)in which
we share our experiences and expertise with other developing
countries including Papua New Guinea. It is hoped that this
modest assistance programme would be of benefit in the
development of Papua New Guinea. Furthermore the contacts
made and the friendship established between the peoples
of Papua New Guinea and Malaysia will no doubt contribute
towards cementng the existing friendship and goodwill
between us.
8. Like most other developing countries, Malaysia
continues to be affected by the global economic predicament
including unfavourable terms of trade, growing protectionism
and declining prices of primary commodities. All these
cannot be redressed in isolation nor can it wait for global
consensus on the creation of a new international economic
order. What is also needed is effective and sustained
cooperations among developing countries. All developing
countries have to tackle these problems ourselves so as
to ensure that our products receive fair and stable prices
and that we could reap the benefits which can contribute to
the development of our countries.
Your Excellency,
9. Once again, I would like to warmly welcome Your
Excellency and Lady Dibela to Malaysia and hope that
both of you have a pleasant and memorable stay in Malaysia.
10. May I now invite you all, distinguished guests, to join
me in a toast to the good health of the Governor General of
Papua New Guinea; to the continued progress and well being
of the government and people of Papua New Guinea and to the
close and cordial relations between Malaysia and Papua New
Guinea.
Thank you.
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