Unity in diversity, resiliency in the face of adversity

ON the Tuesday of Sept. 16, 1975, the red, white, yellow and black flag of Papua New Guinea was raised and flew proudly for the first time. The journey of the country to find its place among the sovereign peoples of the world was a daunting one. But the way forward, post-independence from Australia, proved to be even more challenging, fraught with its fair share of tribulations and triumphs that made the telling all the more worthwhile.Papua New Guinea's 49th National Day continued to be a date marked with gratitude for the forebears and forerunners that fought for the cause of freedom and democracy, and that rightfully deserved to be honored. Within those 49 years, the citizens and leaders of this resilient state have made positive strides in the fields of health care, education, good governance and infrastructure, among other sectors, as attested by Prime Minister James Marape in an official statement on the nation's National Information Centre media platform.Not so much despite the country's diversity but because of it, Papua New Guinea has, indeed, become one of the vibrant nations in the international arena with its varied cultures and over 800 languages as the outer core of its resilience. The inner core of the country's strength was, of course, the citizenry of Papua New Guinea themselves.This was likely why the national government, under the leadership of its prime minister and with an eye to its 50th milestone of nationhood, made it its mission to invest heavily in its human capital. Through training and upskilling programs for the workforce as well as empowerment initiatives for the youth, the government nurtured and developed its future innovators and leaders. As an overarching albeit unspoken theme for the 49th anniversary of the country's sovereignty, preparation was apparently the key.As a young nation and an emerging economy, Papua New Guinea could afford to look to the road ahead that was laid out and lit bright. This was due, in part, to the sunny outlook of the country's leadership and its drive toward removing or avoiding the roadblocks of corruption, poverty, and inequality of wealth and service delivery.The multipronged, diverse and unified approach of the national government to building a robust economy was no longer merely dependent on its traditional revenue streams of oil, natural gas and mining but also diversified into aquaculture, agribusiness and technology. This has been coupled with transparency and accountability of its leadership as exemplified by Prime Minister Marape and even former Papua New Guinea ambassador to the Philippines Betty Palaso.In particular, former ambassador Palaso has been instrumental in the growth and development of bilateral agreements between Papua New Guinea and the Philippines in terms of fisheries, agriculture and trade supply chains. Such cooperation has been so successful, in fact, that Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has commended the outgoing ambassador during her farewell courtesy call at Malacañan Palace last Aug. 6, 2024.Thus, Papua New Guinea's sovereignty, citizenry and diplomacy — especially diplomacy with the Philippines — have become exemplary and have truly come a long way thanks to the nation's unity in diversity and resiliency in the face of adversity.