Royal Australian Navy’s landing helicopter dock HMAS Adelaide wrapped up a visit to Port Moresby where it welcomed Papua New Guinea’s political and defense leaders.
Prior to the ship’s departure Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Peter O’Neill visited the ship after arriving by an embarked MRH-90 multi-role helicopter from the nearby airport.
The prime minister was provided with a tour of Adelaide by commanding officer Captain Jonathan Earley and viewed the maritime capability Australia will deploy in support of Papua New Guinea’s hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Week in November 2018.
The prime minister was accompanied by the Australian high commissioner to Papua New Guinea, Bruce Davies.
“I was honored to welcome prime minister O’Neill and his delegation, including Minister for Defense, Solan Mirisi, secretary of defense Trevor Meauri and chief of defense Brigadier General Gilbert Toropo to Adelaide,” Captain Earley said.
“I was delighted to discuss a number of important issues with Prime Minister O’Neill on board this impressive ship, including bilateral defence cooperation, regional security issues and Papua New Guinea’s hosting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation 2018.”
Before his departure, prime minister O’Neill met with two members of Adelaide’s ship company who hosted their Papua New Guinea relatives on board for the day as well as three Papua New Guinea exchange officers undertaking officer training at HMAS Creswell.
Adelaide was in Port Moresby as part of Indo-Pacific Endeavour 17, a joint task group deployment to the Indo-Pacific region focussed on international engagement and demonstrating Australia’s humanitarian assistance and disaster relief capabilities.