Richard Maru

Fiji for 12 years had banned the import of PNG Made Ox and Palm canned meat, Paradise Biscuits and Trukai Rice claiming the products did not meet its biosecurity requirements which Minister Maru and the National Agriculture Quarantine and Inspection Authority (NAQIA) deny.

A delegation from Fiji is in the country to hold talks with relevant government officers and manufacturers of the banned products to find a solution to the trade dispute.

The proposed MSG trade agreement Number 3 will cover services and labour mobility for member states.

The project is to be developed in the Special Economic zone within the Sepik Plains of Yangoru-Saussia District of East Sepik Province.

Maru, who is also the Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry, said the ground work for the Government funded project will start in the coming weeks.

He warned his people to participate in the spin-off benefits or they will be bystanders as people from throughout the province will be looking for business.

Maru made the comments in light of a court decision last week in favour of the District Development Authority over the customary landowners.

The first term MP was blunt in his message, challenging his people to stop their bad habits and move with the change happening in the district.              

“Yangoru-Saussia is changing, we must not live like in the past, I must tell you now,” Maru said.  

“No more consuming homebrew and marijuana; we are moving forward.”

The PNG Government earlier this year said it will not be party to the trade agreement because it favours the bigger economies of Australia and New Zealand.

Maru’s comments followed smaller Pacific Islands States welcoming the commitment by Australia and New Zealand to provide appropriate resources for the implementation of PACER Plus with respect to the development and economic cooperation chapter of the text, and for the broader trade related assistance at the recently concluded 47th PIF Summit in the Federated States of Micronesia.

“My independence message to my people is that if you are confused about leadership, we will not go forward. That is what we have been doing in the last 41 years.

Maru challenged is constituencies in Yangoru Saussia to choose change and become entrepreneurs to tap into business opportunities arising because of developments in the district.

Trade, Commerce and Industry Minister and Member for Yangoru-Saussia Richard Maru revealed this to his constituents in Koro Village yesterday.

He said the nomination fee will be increased to K10,000 in the upcoming elections.

The current nomination fee is K1,000, and had been for decades, since Independence. 

Furthermore, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill when responding to questions in the last month Parliament sitting supported the call to increase candidates’ nomination fee.

The district has four local level government wards, Numbo, Sausso, East Yangoru and West Yangoru.

Under the chairmanship of first term MP and Minister for Trade Commerce and Industry Yangoru Saussia District Development Authority had invested heavily in the primary school infrastructures in the 30 registered Schools.

Sausso LLG has recorded a total of 9 projects, Numbo 4, West Yangoru 5 projects and East Yangoru LLG 5 projects.

The projects involved double-story classrooms, library and teachers houses.

That is the statement from Trade, Commerce and Industry Minister Richard Maru this week in Parliament when responding to a supplementary question from Kandrian - Gloucester MP Joseph Lelang.

“Under the World Trade Organisation, countries are allowed to impose protectionism leases particularly when it comes with issuing national strategy in agriculture development, particularly in relations to foods security issues,” Lelang asked.

The deadline is end of this month to uplift the ban of Ox and Palm and other products.   

In a letter from PNG’s Trade, Commerce and Industry Minister, Richard Maru, dated August, 22, in response to Fiji’s Trade Minister, Faiyaz Siddiq Koya’s letter (August 15), the Minister highlighted that Fiji’s response was unclear.

They did not clearly explain why Fiji continuously restricts PNG’s competitive products declared for personal consumption and for sampling purposes, said Maru.

This follows highly suspicious ownership changes of the Company’s ownership at the Companies Office at the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA).

The Government several years ago supplied hundreds of cattle from Markham to Koitaki Plantations but these herds of cattle are yet to be accounted for to date.

The Government is now working to finalise a Long Term Sustainable Economic package for the Koiari people and needs to urgently determine ownership of the Plantation as it sits on prime land in the Koiari plateau.