India, Aug. 12 -- Papua New Guinea and Australia will sign a major new defence treaty on PNG's Independence Day, updating a decades-old agreement and marking a new chapter in the two nations' security partnership.

"Well, the Minister and I first started negotiating this updated defence agreement in January of this year - and we'll have more to say about the content of it as that is signed in the lead-up to Independence Day," said Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles.

"This does update the Status of Forces Agreement. dating back to 1977. We both see this as a very, very significant agreement which will be signed between our two countries," he said.

PNG Defence Minister Dr Billy Joseph confirmed the techni...