The cost of hosting the 21 heads of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member states in 2018 was the main question of discussion during this week’s session of Parliament.
When Parliament rose, Opposition Leader Don Polye was quick to take the National Government to task regarding the exact cost of hosting the APEC summit in Port Moresby.
Tkatchenko, last week on TVWan’s ‘Nau’ talkback program, said Papua New Guinea will spend K600 million to host the summit.
On Wednesday East New Britain Governor Ereman ToBaining Jnr asked Tkatchenko to explain the total cost that will be involved to host the APEC Summit in 2018.
This question came at the back of similar questions asked on Monday by the Opposition to the Minister but was answered by the Prime Minister in the minister’s absence.
Tkatchenko said the cost of hosting APEC will be lower that K600 million he mentioned earlier.
“The amount I mentioned this week is not the overall APEC budget but includes cost is part of the normal government operations.
“Police and military will work on APEC and many of their normal cost are part of the recurrent budget expenditure.
“We will take our border protection to the next level that has been lacking for decades.”
He explained that improving border protection is not an APEC expense but necessary expense that we must undertake before APEC.
He said the real cost of APEC meeting is close to K120 million to host all the meetings.
But an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report stated that PNG will spent K3 billion over 2015-18 on the preparations for APEC.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill described the latest report as ‘rubbish’ and nuisance.
Picture: A picture of a previous APEC Leaders’ Summit. Picture source: rappler.com.