APEC

And the recent drought in PNG has been identified as a case study among other disasters affecting other APEC economies.

They include the recent Hurricane Mathew in the US which inflicted damage to the Southeastern coast, and a typhoons in the Western Pacific.

The APEC website states that the Asia-Pacific is on the verge of an increase in poverty due to the increasing frequency and severity of natural disasters fueled by climate change and their ripple effect on water and food supplies.

This was one of the major challenges given by Minister for Civil Aviation Davis Steven during the announcement of the new board on Monday.

Steven alerted the board that important decisions will be soon announced regarding the APEC expectations and that they should be ready for it.

NAC newly appointed acting managing director and chief executive officer Richard Yopo assured that preparing for APEC is one of the first orders of business for the new board.

Minister for Arts, Culture and Tourism, Tobias Kulang, officially opened the 49th Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation-APEC Tourism Working Group Meeting yesterday.

They hope to nurture development through sustainable tourism, inclusive growth, developing the tourism workforce, travel facilitation, trade and investment liberalisation and advancing tourism numbers within the APEC region.

Minister Kulang told the APEC delegates and officials that Papua New Guinea is much honoured to host the meeting for the first time outside of Port Moresby since 1993, when PNG joined APEC.

Setting the tone, the APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy began a two-day meeting in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on Sunday May 1st.

Emmeline Verzosa, the Executive Director of the Philippine Commission on Women, said the group will draft new plans and projects that empower more women to be part of supply chains and provide women with access to technology, health services, finance and marketing.  

The summit complements the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) 2nd meeting and is attended by over 800 participants from SMEs throughout the country.

APEC and ABAC recognise that the key initiatives to help and support the SMEs are access to international market, access to finance, capacity building, innovation and entrepreneurship.

During the official opening of the one-day summit today, PNG APEC ambassador Ivan Pomaleu welcomed the participants and guest speakers, stressing that APEC advocates strong SME growth through the use of technology.

The swearing-in of the Government Ministers took place on Friday April 8 at Government House, Port Moresby.

Tkatchenko was appointed to look after Tourism in January. He has been moved from Tourism and is now looking after APEC as well as Sports.

Joe Lera, Member for Bougainville region takes responsibilities as Minister for Bougainville Affairs.

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said that minor changes are important to maintain administrative flexibility as the global and national economy evolves, and to ensure ministerial skills and capabilities are targeted.

Over 200 participants from 21 countries will be involved in the discussions that will cover all modes of transportation and are highly technical in nature.

The Transportation Working Group (TPTWG) has four main experts groups, which are aviation, maritime, land and intermodal and intelligent transport systems. 

Under the main experts groups are seven sub-groups. There’ll also be side meetings held on specific matters, such as women in transportation and APEC port services network.

Speaking at the final meeting of APEC leaders in Manila, Philippines last week, O’Neill highlighted the seriousness of the situation in the Pacific.

Following the meeting, O’Neill and United States President, Barak Obama, agreed to continue to address these issues when they meet at the United Nations Climate Change meeting in Paris, France, later this month.

The main areas of discussion for APEC Leaders centre  around the topic of inclusive growth for people from around the region, with an emphasis on human resource development.

He says enhancing the role of women in the economy, empowering rural communities and helping small businesses participate in global supply chains are all important issues for Papua New Guinea.

In the final communique the leaders say they have instructed ministers to implement the APEC High-Level Policy Dialogue on Food Security and Blue Economy Plan of Action in the areas of resilient oceans and coastal resources, fish loss reduction, and agri-business development.

“We support the APEC Food Safety Co-operation Forum and its Partnership Training Institute Network.  We encourage progress on the APEC Food Security Roadmap toward 2020, to contribute to the achievement of APEC’s food security goal,” leaders stated through the communique.