Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has welcomed a high level delegation of investors from the United Kingdom involved in agriculture, shipping, capital markets, energy, gas and mining sectors.
The British trade and investment mission is headed by some of the largest companies in key sectors for Papua New Guinea, and has come about following the PNG Investment Forum that was held in London earlier this year.
“Papua New Guinea welcomes British investment and business engagement in our economy that will create more jobs, while providing sound opportunities for investors.
“I thank the business leaders who have travelled to Papua New Guinea and hope you will leave with a better understanding of the opportunities we have in our country.
“This is key to ensuring that Papua New Guinea develops strong business relationships that are long-sustaining and create employment and income opportunities.
“We are also keen to promote participation in the some of the sectors where Government has been involved, but where private sector engagement can bring renewal and increased competitiveness.
“Ours is a pro-business Government and we know that some areas that have traditionally been managed by the Government are much better managed by the private sector. In these areas, the Government must exit.
“There is great opportunity for increased private sector participation in power generation as one example.
“Business is better at producing power that it can feed into the PNG Power grid.”
The delegation received a briefing on the national economy and current Government policies in place to deal with current challenges.
“The Papua New Guinea economy is a success story, particularly in the face of global economic instability and low commodity prices,” the Prime Minister said
“Papua New Guinea has one of the best-performing economies because our fundamentals are sound, and our Government plans well into the future.
“While the sharp decline in commodity prices, and occurrences such as the temporary closure by OK Tedi Limited have placed pressure on the economy, we still project growth of 15% following an average 8% growth per annum over many years.
“Working with the private sector we are proceeding with considerable petroleum and mining projects in the coming years.
“This includes the expansion of PNG-LNG Project under ExxonMobil, and we are beginning the Total Led LNG project in Gulf.
“The Wafi gold mine by Newcrest and Frieda Project, 50 per cent of which was purchased by Chinese investment, is ramping up.”
The Prime Minister said the nation will continue to monitor global conditions and manage the economy well.
Companies taking part in the trade and investment delegation included Aggreko, Cadden Crowe, Clarke Energy, Gardline Group, IRIS Land, Nikko Asset Management, PacWealth and the Oxford Business Group.