Indonesia’s president-elect Prabowo Subianto (L) told Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape the neighbouring countries ‘should be like real brothers’
Andrew KUTAN
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Indonesian president-elect Prabowo Subianto promised “compromise and collaboration” while visiting Papua New Guinea on Wednesday, the latest sign of warming ties between the sometimes prickly neighbours.
Indonesia and Papua New Guinea share an 800-kilometre (500-mile) land border that has been the source of myriad disputes over the years.
But recent months have seen the pair finally implement a border security agreement that was once thought all-but impossible.
“The fact is we are very close neighbours. We are basically Siamese twins,” Prabowo said at a joint press conference with Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape.
“We are joined together and we should be like real brothers.”
Prabowo, who gushed over his “beautiful” welcoming ceremony, said the nations should work closer in areas such as defence, education and trade.
“The Indonesia tradition is we like to solve all problems with compromise and collaboration,” added Prabowo, who is due to be inaugurated in October.
Papua New Guinea earlier this year ratified a long-neglected defence cooperation agreement with Indonesia, almost 14 years after it was first mooted.
It sets terms for the two to jointly police the border that splits the island of New Guinea.
The western half of the island, or the region called Papua, has been under Indonesian control since the early 1960s.
The pro-independence Free Papua Movement has waged a low-level insurgency with the Indonesian military for decades.
Guns, drugs, and people flow freely across the porous border, which traverses a mountainous and densely forested landscape that is almost impossible to patrol.
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