Prime Minister James Marape today welcomed the news that a long standing leadership tussle affecting the regulatory body, Securities Commission of Papua New Guinea, has now been resolved.
This news now paves the way for the Government to consolidate and appoint a permanent chairman going forward.
The Securities Commission of PNG is responsible for the growth and development of the organic capital market. It is, therefore, important that the stakeholders are not confused as to the leadership of this regulatory body.
“I am relieved that this matter is now resolved and that the market can respond to any regulatory imposition with confidence and clarity,” stated the PM.
“The last four years have been very difficult and as a country and fledgling market, we could not afford the opportunities we may have missed with the prevailing confusion over leadership, and our genuine attempts at resolving this has been hampered with court orders.”
In addition, Prime Minister Marape said his Government, which was dependent on this, could now move forward with the Oil Search and Santos merger, including plans to liberalise and reform PomSox.
He further stated that the recruitment for this position would be done soon to get a qualified person for this role.
“I will be encouraging the Honorable Minister William Samb, Acting Minister for Commerce and Industry to move quickly to go to the market and recruit a qualified Papua New Guinean to fill this role permanently.”
He commended the aggrieved parties for agreeing to this outcome, and for Secretaries, Ivan Pomaleu and Dr Eric Kwa, for providing the leadership on this occasion.