James Marape is a Papua New Guinean politician who has served as the prime minister of Papua New Guinea since May 2019. He has been a member of the National Parliament of Papua New Guinea since July 2007, representing the electorate of Tari-Pori Open in Hela Province in the New Guinea Highlands. He has held Cabinet Posts as Minister of Education (2008–2011), Minister of Finance (2012–2019), and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2023–present). Marape entered the 2022 elections under the banner of the Pangu Party and won more seats than any other party. He was therefore entitled to form the government. His new government was elected unopposed by the new parliament.
Marape in 2023
Marape with Fumio Kishida in 2022
Marape with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in 2022
Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and its offshore islands in Melanesia. It shares its only land border with Indonesia to the west and it is directly adjacent to Australia to the south and the Solomon Islands to the east. Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The country is the world's third largest island country, with an area of 462,840 km2 (178,700 sq mi).
Kerepunu women at the marketplace of Kalo, British New Guinea, 1885
Female gable image, Sawos people, Oceanic art in the Bishop Museum
British annexation of southeast New Guinea in 1884
Australian forces attack Japanese positions during the Battle of Buna–Gona, 7 January 1943.