New White Paper Charts Papua New Guinea’s Foreign Policy Direction

Abstract

Foreign policy white papers are occasions for explaining the wider international context of a country, indicating where it has come from and pointing to where it seeks to be. By their nature, documents of this kind are full of platitudes, promises and optimism. And the recently released Papua New Guinea Foreign Policy White Paper 2025: Strategic Partnerships for Security and Economic Prosperity is no different. Yet there is much to learn even from the aspirations of Australia’s closest neighbour. This white paper is comprehensive in scope, and the account that follows is therefore highly selective (DFA 2025). The overriding principle of Papua New Guinea (PNG) foreign policy in the 50 years since independence has been ‘friends to all, enemies to none’, perhaps an essential principle for a country of PNG’s size and influence.