Foreign aid is the transfer of money, good, skills or food from a developed nation to a developing nation. Foreign aid can assist development by transferring wealth from rich to poor countries and people.
The Australia government gives foreign aid to several countries that have lower living standards than Australia. Each year the Australian aid program reaches more than 58 million people living in poverty around the world, with most of its activities taking place in the Asia-Pacific region. An example of a country that Australia has help through foreign aid is Papa New Guinea (PNG). PNG is Australia's closet neighbour. PNG and Australia have a history together; these two countries have a special relationship, as PNG was Australia's colonial territory before becoming an independent country in 1973. Papua New Guinea is the largest developing country in the South Pacific region. .
There are many types of aid in Australia some examples are tied aid and technical assistance. Tied aid has help PNG, as the main purpose of tied aid in this case was infrastructure. Infrastructure plays a key role in broad based economic and social development, poverty alleviation and access to services. The government of PNG's Medium Term Development Strategy identifies, as a priority, the maintenance of current infrastructure, particularly the transport network. Tied aid has been successful, some of which includes: over 1,000km of roads maintained, over 30km of the Highlands Highway upgraded; 21 bridges replaced or rehabilitated; and 143 bridges maintained on national and provincial roads. They have upgraded the Maritime Training College to international standards. They have improved safety and efficiency of PNG civil aviation through the BALUS program and airport safety programs, four major airport upgrades and major maintenance of 13 airports and The South Fly communications network completed .
Another type of aid that has been useful in helping PNG is Technical assistance as they provide education and economic advisers.
