PAPUA New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape urged Australian businesses to deepen their investment in the country, saying the next decade would bring major resource projects, infrastructure development and closer integration with regional markets.
“If you’re already in PNG, get entrenched. If you’re wanting to come to PNG, come now. The next 10-year window might close on you,” Marape told the Business Advantage PNG Investment Conference in Brisbane this week.
Marape said the investment pipeline included Papua LNG, Wafi-Golpu, and the Pasca project, as well as prospective developments such as P’nyang.
He said opportunities extended beyond mining, petroleum and gas into agriculture, manufacturing, construction, tourism, ICT, artificial intelligence and energy.
“The next 10 years are packed with a lot of activities,” Marape said.
He also pointed to Papua New Guinea’s entry into Australia’s National Rugby League competition through the PNG Chiefs from 2028, saying it would create opportunities in tourism, aviation, hospitality, construction and commerce.
Papua New Guinea is preparing to host APEC again in 2033 and celebrate its 60th anniversary of Independence in 2035.
Marape said Australia and Papua New Guinea shared a relationship built over generations through churches, business, government and people-to-people connections.
He described the history through what he called the “three Gs”: God, Gold and Government and said the relationship must now become a stronger economic partnership.
“Our history is deep. We have depth of relationship people to people through churches, social activities and sport, business to business, and government to government,” Marape said.
He said the Government’s economic philosophy was to grow the economy while ensuring Papua New Guinea received a fair return from its natural resources without undermining investors’ legitimate returns.
“We want Papua New Guinea to be a place where all investors, local and international make a fair return on their investments as our country moves into the next 50 years,” he said.
Marape said the National Budget had exceeded K30 billion, compared with approximately K300 million at Independence, despite political instability, natural disasters, global economic shocks and the COVID-19 pandemic.
He said increasing activity outside the traditional mining and petroleum sectors showed the Government’s diversification focus was beginning to deliver results.
“We are starting to see the diversification focus coming to fruition,” Marape said.
The prime minister said artificial intelligence could help improve government decision-making, recruitment, procurement, regulation and permitting while reducing bureaucracy, delays and opportunities for corruption.
“We want to use artificial intelligence to improve government efficiency,” he said.
“A smarter government is okay, but a smarter government needs a stronger economy.”
Marape said Papua New Guinea’s membership of APEC and the Pacific Islands Forum, together with its longstanding relationship with ASEAN, positioned the country between the Pacific and some of the world’s largest Asian markets.
The Government would continue to expand market access for PNG products in China, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, India and elsewhere, he said.
He also described the country’s youthful population as a major economic opportunity, saying investment in education and skills development could produce a workforce able to meet domestic labour requirements and help address skills shortages in Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere.
“Our focus is on converting our youthful population into a resource, not a liability,” he said.
Marape recalled founding Prime Minister Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare’s challenge to achieve economic independence.
“For what use is political independence if we don’t have the economy to sustain our country?” he said.
He said predictions that Papua New Guinea would fail as an independent country had proven wrong, and called for stronger institutions, a skilled population and sustained private-sector investment during the country’s second 50 years.
“Many thought Papua New Guinea would fail in the 1970s, in the 1980s or in the unstable 1990s. But we have not failed. We have survived to this day,” he said.
“We are a nation of 10 million people. We don’t want to be beggars for life. We’re working to grow our economy,” Marape said.
“Pick up a part of PNG you want to invest in. Be with us. This is the story of our country.”
