Dr Charles Yala

Dr Yala left the Institute on April 7, 2017 due to personal reasons.

He was Director since mid-2015 and leaves having had a 22-year association with the Institute since graduating with the University of PNG.

The NRI Council appointed Dr Sanida, who took over as Acting Director from April 10, 2017, until a permanent appointment is made.

Dr Sanida acknowledged the very important contributions of Dr Yala to the PNG NRI and the country, not only in his role as Director, but also in his time as a researcher and policy advocate.

PNG National Research Institute director, Dr Charles Yala, gave the advice whilst addressing research assistants at a certificate awarding ceremony on Monday.

UPNG final year students made up a large portion of the group of 60 research assistants who took part in a survey conducted by the institute last year, to understand the dynamics of the informal sector economy.

In recognising that these students would now be looking for jobs, Dr Yala reminded them that the country is currently going through a critical time.

The weekly open forum, organised by NRI for registered political parties to promote their policies, will end next week with two major parties in the coalition government, National Alliance and People’s National Congress, taking to stage.   

NRI director Dr Charles Yala earlier said the forum is organised to encourage political parties to develop constructive policies and give awareness to the voting population before the issue of Writs for the 2017 National Elections.     

“Our interest is to make an input into the policy debate during the national elections.

Speaking at the Sub-regional Workshop on Connectivity Development in the South West Pacific Region last Thursday, Dr Yala said enhancing connectivity within the SwPD block has the potential to enhance people to people network.

He said the connections will allow free flow of goods and services, enhance trade and investment and in the process improve the welfare of the people of the SwPD block and beyond.

Hence, he said the focus of the SwPD aimed at developing and improving connectivity is a noble one.

National Research Institute Director, Dr. Charles Yala, said this on Thursday (March 16th) during the 2^nd Sub-Regional Workshop on Connectivity Development in Port Moresby.

Yala said the challenge for PNG was to rethink and reshape the country’s trajectory after 40 years of mismanagement of the country’s windfalls in the past.

He said to achieve this was to open the country to the rest of the Southwest Pacific through internal and external connectivity.

NRI director Dr Charles Yala said the forum is organised to encourage political parties to develop constructive policies and give awareness to the voting population.    

“Our interest is to make an input into the policy debate during the national elections.

“PNG NRI’s contribution to election 2017 is to provide a forum for political parties to market their policies in a non-threatening and friendly environment,” Dr Yala said. 

The political parties forum will be run twice a week throughout the month of March.

“It’s a democracy so anybody can put out their views but at the end of the day, if you read through some of the political parties’ policies, they all seem to say the same thing, and I tend to wonder what is the real reason for having 44 political parties,” NRI director Dr Charles Yala said.

Papua New Guinea has 44 political parties registered with Political Parties and Candidates Commission to contest in the 2017 National Elections, for the 111 Parliament seats.    

NRI director Dr Charles Yala made the confirmation in a media conference today.

The public forum will run on Tuesdays and Thursdays starting next week, and the eight sessions will be held this month at NRI conference room in Port Moresby.

Dr Yala said the aim of the forum is to encourage political parties to develop constructive policies and give awareness to the voting population.     

“Our interest is to make an input into the policy debate during the national elections.

The interest in the home ownership and for affordable home loan products has been relatively high since the introduction of BSP and Government of PNG’s (GoPNG) First Home Owners Scheme in 2014.

The majority of loans funded are mostly in Port Moresby, largely due to size of market and increased interest from housing developers. However, interests from potential home buyers also remain high across PNG, from young professionals to long-serving employees in both the public and private sectors.

This is one of the findings emerging from The Housing and Property Policy Development Report study launched by the National Research Institute today.

The finding is one of five to have emerged from the report, which was presented by former NRI Director, Dr. Thomas Webster and Dr. Lindsay Kutuan.

NRI Director, Dr Charles Yala, said the evidence was overwhelming in that the private sector delivered major housing projects while the public sector lagged in getting things off the ground.