55TH NATIONAL DAY AND 49TH MALAYSIA DAY RECEPTION, 14 SEPTEMBER 2012
Her Excellency Datin Seri Blanche Olbery, High Commissioner of Malaysia to Papua New Guinea hosted the 55th National Day reception of Malaysia at Crowne Plaza Hotel, on 14 September 2012.
The event was attended by 200 guests. Among the attendees were Hon. Leo Dion who is the Deputy Prime Minister/Acting Prime Minister of PNG, Minister for Higher Education, Research Science and Technology Hon. David Arore, Education Minister, Hon. Pau Aihi, PNG Defence Force Commander Brigadier Francis Agwi, government officials, members of diplomatic corps, businessmen, journalists, NGOs and fellow Malaysians.
In her speech, PYT High Commissioner shared Malaysia’s success stories since independence in 1957 and the need for every Malaysian to work together to bring progress to Malaysia. She reminded Malaysians in PNG to uphold the spirit of 1Malaysia and preserve the value of independence. The High Commissioner expressed her ardent hope that the government to government cooperation from various sectors between Malaysia and PNG would be further strengthened. The solid foundation has been laid upon by the existing cooperation in the areas of trade and investment cooperation. In 2011, total trade between Malaysia and PNG was valued at RM 2.416 billion or Kina 1.64 billion, a significant increase from RM 606 million or Kina 407 million achieved in 2010. Malaysian companies were among the leading job providers in PNG. PYT High Commissioner was confident that trade performance this year to match, or most likely, surpass last year’s performance.
After the exchange of toasts and Merdeka cake cutting session, the guests were entertained by Ngajat dance performance by the staffs of Vanimo Jaya. They later were invited to savour their taste buds with Teh Tarik complemented by various Malaysian delicacies namely satay, kuih bingka, yam cake, kuih angkoo, chinese pancake, karipap, ketayap, lompang and agar-agar. The traditional dishes were prepared by the Malaysian community in Port Moresby.
