Papua New Guinea is preparing to sign a Defence Cooperation Agreement with the United States, as it also finalises a security treaty with Australia.
A delegation from PNG will travel to Honolulu in Hawaii next month for high level talks as the US defence deal progresses.
The new defence and security agreements come amid concerns in Canberra and Washington about China's more assertive position in the Pacific.
PNG's Foreign Minister Justin Tkachenko said the United States has "stepped up" in the region and is "wanting to make their presence known".
"The United States of America have taken a fairly serious role now in the Pacific since China and Solomon Islands have had their agreement, which has created a tsunami throughout the Pacific region and put more concentration on the area," Mr Tkachenko told the ABC.
A high-level Washington delegation visited the Pacific in April last year, in response to China signing a security pact with PNG's neighbour Solomon Islands.
The US delegation, which included representatives from its National Security Council, Department of State, and the Defense Department, held meetings with PNG's prime minister and defence force commander during a brief stop in the country.
At the time, the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink said there was "a desire on both sides" to "take concrete steps to expand our security cooperation".
US agreement will allow PNG to 'build up defence force'
The Defence Cooperation Agreement with the US will be focused on capacity building for the PNG defence force in training and infrastructure, Mr Tkachenko said.
"It's not a situation in which we will have warships. Yes training is definitely one [part of it], but not building up the US forces here in Papua New Guinea," he said.
"This agreement will assist Papua New Guinea greatly in capacity building and building up the PNG defence force."
Mr Tkachenko said the agreement was "about 30 per cent there" ahead of the Honolulu meeting.
"[The] conclusion I would say would be halfway through this year," he said.
"Basically everything is there, the most important thing is the legal clearance – making sure our sovereignty is protected and making sure we get things right from the beginning and not halfway through."
The ABC understands the agreement would provide the administrative framework to allow future defence investment and joint programs, and builds on a Status of Forces Agreement between the countries, which was signed in 1989.
PNG and the US recently finalised a so-called "shipriders agreement" to allow PNG defence personnel to travel on US coastguard and some naval vessels in the Pacific region.
It is expected to be signed off this week.
The PNG government has said the shipriders agreement will assist with controlling illegal fishing, illegal logging, and drug smuggling in the country.
But Mr Tkachenko said the defence cooperation agreement would be the "big one" that "will have both defence forces working together now and into the future for the security of the pacific region and the region that we live in".
In 2018 the Unites States it would join Australia in partnering with Papua New Guinea to redevelop the strategically placed Lombrum naval base.
The ABC contacted the US embassy in Papua New Guinea for comment on the defence cooperation agreement, but did not receive comment by time of publication.
Geopolitical tensions grow
PNG has experienced a significant increase in international attention in the wake of the growing geopolitical tension in the Pacific.
In November last year, PNG signed a Status of Forces Agreement with France, which will likely see PNG's defence force travel to New Caledonia, and France's defence personnel come to PNG, for increased trainings and exercises.
After starting the year hosting Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, PNG is also preparing for visits from Indonesia's President Joko Widodo and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
PNG signed a Defence Cooperation Agreement with Indonesia in 2010, but it wasn't ratified. After years of inaction, PNG committed to ratifying it during a ministerial forum in Bali in December.
The focus of Mr Albanese's visit to PNG was a bilateral security treaty, which the two countries committed to signing off on in June.
PNG's Internal Security Minister Peter Tsiamalili Jnr told parliament this week PNG would be looking for additional support for its police and border security as part of the treaty.
But he said that it would be "very important" for PNG to "draw an alignment with what Australia wants but keep it open with other bilateral relationships we have".
Mr Tkachenko said "nothing's changed" with the new agreements, because the US and Australia were the country's traditional security partners, and he had no concerns that PNG was being used to push their interests in the region.
"We have made that very clear from day one. We are here to work with our security partners but also for them to assist us to build our capacity in our region so we can protect our own sovereignty at the same time," he said.
He said PNG was in a position "to utilise" the current global situation "for the betterment of our country, our sovereignty and also what we're trying to achieve now and into the future".
"Papua New Guinea is in a position where it can ensure long term benefit from all its partners, it's in a very strategic place in the Pacific," he said.
"It's got a great position to lever itself for economics, defence, security, and many other things as well.
"Now this opportunity has [arisen] – it would be wrong for us to not take advantage of the situation for the benefit of our people and our country and the region itself."
