The inaugural Community Affairs and National Content Conference and Expo started this morning at the PNG University of Technology in Lae, Morobe Province.
The theme of the three-day event is ‘Promoting national participation for sustainable communities’, with over 830 participants registering by 10 am today.
Prime Minister James Marape said the theme is appropriate when the government is now formulating an overarching PNG national content policy for resource sectors.
He outlined that the conversation of taking back PNG is incomplete without capturing the benefits of resource projects that are harvested in our country.
“We don’t want to grow GDP elsewhere,” he stated. “From every resource that is harvested in our country, we want it to have a cascading effect in growing the GDP in our country.
“The greater conversation is about optimising and maximising local content in any space and capacity. I am happy that the Chamber of Mines and Petroleum has allowed for this conversation, right in the face of the next huge wave of new world-class projects that are descending upon this country, especially in the mining and petroleum sector.”
The Prime Minister pointed out that PNG’s economy is largely underdeveloped, and the bulk of our population live in poverty – challenged by geographical, cultural and political barriers – because the assumed distributions idea has not taken root in this conversation.
That is why the Government must do its best to realign the mining and petroleum industry so they can restructure the national content requirements better.
PM Marape believes addressing national content is the best way to readdress the distribution of benefits.
“We need to converse beyond the past, and converse onto the future,” he stated. “Converse beyond just discussions on royalties and tax, and into optimising the value chain of every resource project in our country.
“That is why I make no apology with anyone in 2019 when I pronounced that we must take back ownership of our resources.”
Apart from presentations, companies have also set up exhibition booths where participants can learn about their products and services.
(Prime Minister James Marape meeting Unitech staff upon his arrival at the Taraka campus in Lae, Morobe Province, for the inaugural Community Affairs and National Content Conference and Expo)