Papua New Guinea and Malaysian Governments need to do more to build government-to-government and people-to-people relations between the two countries, says the Minister for International Trade and Investment, Richard Maru.
Minister Maru said this during his bilateral meeting with the Malaysian Deputy Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry, Liew Chin Tong at the margins of the APEC Trade Ministers Meeting in Detroit, United States.
“Malaysia is the second biggest investor in Papua New Guinea in the non-renewable sector with over US$10 million investment and over 200 companies. In terms of trade, the total trade between the two countries stands at over K22 billion in 2021 and is expected to increase over time. This trade and investment relations is purely built on the private sector,” said Minister Maru.
“There is a great opportunity for both countries to further enhance their existing bilateral relations by encouraging greater cooperation in trade and investment, including a possible Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (IPPA), a trade agreement and other technical cooperation, including the areas of education and digital trade.”
The two Ministers agreed for senior officials to meet in July this year to discuss steps forward on the scope of the possible exchange visits by the Prime Ministers of both countries hopefully by the end of this year.
“We are encouraged by Malaysian investors like WR Carpenters who are already in PNG and invested in manufacturing and shipping services and we want to see more investment from Malaysia in downstream processing of raw materials such as logs and timber products,” said Minister Maru.