Australia, Papua New Guinea begin talks on full defence treaty

By Alasdair Pal

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia and Papua New Guinea said on Thursday they would begin talks on a full defence treaty between the two countries.

Australia and Papua New Guinea already have a defence cooperation agreement, but the talks were aimed at helping their armed forces operate more closely together, Australia defence minister Richard Marles said.

"This will enable our two defence forces to walk down a pathway of increasing integration and increasing interoperability," Marles told a news conference with his counterpart Billy Joseph.

The new treaty is one of a number of agreements Australia has signed or plans to sign with Papua New Guinea, with China pushing to expand its role in the country.

"We have many friends and we treat as friends uniquely under different levels, but with Australia... we are tied to the hips, we are very close," Joseph said.

(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)

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