West Papua's non-attendance at this week's Pacific leaders' summit in Port Moresby is because of different agreements between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, says Foreign Affairs Minister Rimbink Pato.
He said that on Friday when answering a question at the Pacific Islands News Association/Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat Forum regional media workshop on Port Moresby on PNG's stand on West Papua's attendance.
"PNG's position is governed by different agreements and treaties Papua New Guinea has entered into with the Republic of Indonesia," Pato said. "We have a very strong relationship with that country.
"As I've said in the past, Papua New Guinea would not do anything as would jeopardise or call into question the sovereignty, and the integrity, and the jurisdictional competence of the Republic of Indonesia over the five Melanesian provinces of the Republic of Indonesia.
"If there is any issue as to attendance at the PIF in Port Moresby, I think the decision will have to be made by the leaders, and of course there are rules and regulations in the PIF framework which govern what leaders can and cannot do.
"We will follow the letter of the rules and regulations that apply to it. It is independent member states of the Pacific Islands Forum that are entitled to participate. Anyone who's not a member of the Pacific Islands Forum I don't think should be permitted to enter."