Prime Minister James Marape has assured Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group (XCMG) Company Limited that Papua New Guinea is a good investment destination in a meeting at the Shangri-La Hotel, Hong Kong.
XCMG is a Chinese state-owned company that specialises in building machinery for export to the world.
Prime Minister Marape informed Vice President of XCMG, Hanson Liu that PNG has an independent and robust judiciary that would protect the company's investment interests in the country.
He said the Government, no matter who was in power, always honours contracts between investors and the State, ensuring they were free from undue political influences.
Prime Minister Marape highlighted that PNG was an ideal investment destination, with more resource development projects coming online in the country, like the Porgera Gold Mine, Wafi-Golpu, Papua LNG and Frieda River Copper/Gold Project,
He informed the Vice President that Papua New Guinea was strategically located in the middle of Asia, the West and the Pacific, and provided that needed bridge between China and the markets of the South Pacific, including Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia.
Prime Minister Marape then invited XCMG to establish a machine-building plant in Papua New Guinea, to which he said the Government was willing to give concessions to.
The aim is to produce finished products labelled 'Made in PNG' for export to America, Pacific and Asia.
PM Marape further advised Mr. Liu of the potential of XCMG going into the production of Green Energy by building batteries from nickel and cobalt harvested from the Ramu Nickel/Cobalt project to store energy generated by hydro, wind and the sun.
The Prime Minister also talked about Green Energy and Carbon offsetting which was now becoming a social responsibility among companies.
Vice President of XCMG Hanson Liu thanked Prime Minister Marape for meeting with him and his team and assured Prime Minister Marape that they would look into how they could establish a factory in Papua New Guinea.
He also informed the Prime Minister that the company was also looking into establishing a scholarship for five PNG students to study in the fields of Petroleum, Mining, Engineering, Heavy Equipment Fitters, and related areas.