Papua New Guinea's Health Minister Sasa Zibe has explained to Parliament his recent outburst on the European Union's refusal to work with the national government.
The newspaper, The National, reports that Mr Zibe's comments related to the issue of the EU not complementing national government programmes, and questions over the sustainability of these programmes.
The EU is helping PNG with a water supply programme but Mr Zibe has expressed frustration that the EU doesn't work together with the PNG Government in the implementation of the programme.
The minister claimed he had met with EU delegates and offered help from the government with their programmes but that the EU wanted to only work with non-State actors.
However Mr Zibe said these non-State actors did not have the capacity, not only for doing the work, but they did not have the capacity for national coverage.
He said the Government now had funds for the water and sanitation programme but this must be complemented with the donor programme.
