France–Papua New Guinea relations France–Papua New Guinea relations France – Papua New Guinea relations refer to foreign relations between France and Papua New Guinea. Official diplomatic relations were established in 1976. France has an embassy in Port Moresby but Papua New Guinea has no diplomatic representation in France. Papua New Guinea's embassy in Brussels covers France. In 1768, French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville landed at what is now Papua New Guinea during his circumnavigation of the world. He gave his name to an island just to the east of New Guinea. In the 1870s and 1880s, the Marquis de Rays, a French nobleman, attempted
Territory of Papua and New Guinea largest series of connected operations ever mounted by the Australian armed forces. Bitter fighting continued in New Guinea between the Allies and the Japanese 18th Army based in New Guinea until the Japanese surrender in 1945. Following the Surrender of Japan in 1945, civil administration of Papua and New Guinea was restored, and under the Papua New Guinea Provisional Administration Act (1945–46), Papua and New Guinea were combined in an administrative union. The Papua and New Guinea Act 1949 united, for administrative purposes only, the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea as the Territory of Papua and