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.