MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — U.N. chief Antonio Guterres congratulated Papua New Guinea on Wednesday for its global leadership role on climate change during the first visit by a serving United Nations secretary-general to the South Pacific island nation.

Guterres’ visit comes ahead of the developing nation commemorating the 50th anniversary of its independence from near-neighbor Australia on Sept. 16.

He said the first lesson Papua New Guinea had taught the world was the “art of forging consensus through dialogue” since becoming an independent nation.

“The second lesson you offer to the world is bold climate action,” Guterres said in an address to the National Parliament in the capital Port Moresby.

“Time and again we have seen climate leadership flow not from countries with the most we

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