Madang partners with United States city

The National National
From left: Madang Governor Ramsey Pariwa, Pacific Wrecks director Justin Taylan and US Embassy Public Affairs head Damien Wampler with the signed memorandum. – Nationalpic by HANNAH NERO

MADANG is the first province in Papua New Guinea to partner with Poplar, a city in Wisconsin, United States of America, under the Sister Cities International (SCI) partnership.
Madang Governor Ramsey Pariwa signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Friday with the city of Poplar in Wisconsin to facilitate cultural exchange, and economic collaboration between the two communities.
US embassy head of public affairs Damien Wampler commended Ramsey for being the first in PNG to engage in “citizen diplomacy”.
The SCI was founded in 1956 by US President Dwight Eisenhower to achieve “peace through people”. There are now 500 US cities in partnership with 2,000 cities around the world in 145 countries.
Wampler said: “This partnership was driven by the Whitehouse at the US-Pacific forum summit in Washington DC, in September of 2023.
“It is called the Sevem-for-70 initiative. The aim is to involve at least seven cities in the Pacific by 2026 in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the SCI.”
Four of these partnerships will be in PNG.
Madang is recognised as where the US fighter aircraft, P38 Marge, flown by American Major Richard Bong crashed during World War Two.