The Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed an MoU today to improve the ease of doing business in PNG.
The MoU will involve technical assistance under the Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative (PSDI) to improve the IPA’s business registry’s services.
The assistance is expected to improve reliability and accessibility by enabling businesses to enter the formal economy as well as improving transparency of business information.
The MoU was signed by IPA Board Chairman, Leon Buskens, Acting Managing Director, Clarence Hoot, and ADB Regional Director of Pacific Liason and Coordination Office, Emma Fan.
Buskens says one of the major changes is the introduction of cloud based technology and the streamlining of IPA’s operations.
“IPA has over the years contributed to ease of doing business in PNG and also in terms of making the businesses environment more user friendly, easier and improving governance and the transparency initiatives so this MoU signing is a significant step in that direction,” said Buskens.
Fan said it was the beginning of a journey to use technology to enable the business environment to improve productivity and efficiency especially in the Pacific Region.
“The advance of technology has opened up many avenues especially for smaller countries in the pacific, where the countries have huge distances between markets, populations are dispersed and where it is difficult to deliver goods and services and infrastructure.
“And technology holds a great potential to reduce the tyranny of distance. But technology is only a tool and it can only succeed with the commitment from all of you,” she said.
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