By Kirsty Needham and Alasdair Pal
SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia will provide its northern neighbour Papua New Guinea with A$600 million ($382.80 million) over 10 years to support the Pacific Islands nation entering Australia’s national rugby league competition, leaders of the two countries said on Thursday.
The deal, which also seeks to boost Australian tourism to PNG, comes as Australia seeks to limit China’s security ambitions in the Pacific Islands.
“Rugby league is the national sport of Papua New Guinea and PNG deserves a national team. The new team will belong to the people of Papua New Guinea,” Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a joint news conference with his counterpart James Marape.
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The team will enter Australia’s NRL in 2028 and be based in PNG’s capital Port Moresby, he added.
The rugby league funding was negotiated in parallel with a security agreement between Australia and Papua New Guinea which entered into force this week, focused on police training.
($1 = 1.5674 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham and Alasdair Pal in SydneyEditing by Toby Davis)
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