A diplomat from Papua New Guinea allegedly assaulted his wife and an employee in an apparent drunken rage at a Taipei City restaurant last month. At 5 p.m. a 44-year-old man who works as a secretary at the Papua New Guinea representative office in Taiwan took part in a dinner party with his fellow staff members at a restaurant in Taipei's Zhongshan District on Aug. 12. After a long night of heavy drinking, the diplomat at 4 a.m. got into a heated argument with his wife and began to smash her head with several glass beer mugs, reported SET News. When a male employee surnamed Liao tried to intervene to protect the woman, the diplomat waved the broken beer mug at him before throwing it at Liao. As the worker tried to shield himself, he suffered a laceration to his left arm that required six stitches. It was not until other bystanders joined in with Liao that they were finally able to restrain the diplomat on a pool table. Liao had four or five abrasions to his upper chest during the struggle with the assailant. When police arrived on the scene, they took the diplomat into custody at a nearby station. After the incident, the suspect reportedly refused to apologize to Liao, who has since filed a lawsuit for his injuries suffered. Liao told SET News that the assailant's wife suffered trauma to the back of her head and temples and appeared to lose consciousness and was unable to speak on the day of the assault. She has since reportedly declined to press charges against her husband. The suspect has served as a diplomat for Papua New Guinea in Taiwan for over 10 years and in 2018 was arrested for driving with a blood alcohol level of 0.58, reported Next TV. Although he claimed diplomatic immunity, a Taiwan court ordered him to pay a fine of NT$75,000.   Source: Taiwan News

Huon Gulf District MP and minister for Community Development, Youth and Religious Jason Peter visited the Erap Gabmazum cluster primary school's expo yesterday during the 47th independence day celebrations. This was part of his visit to schools and communities to get first hand information and the status of how basic public services are operating in his electorate. He spent an hour greeted students, teachers and parents around Erap Primary school campus before taking the stage. He was welcomed by a traditional singsing group from Erap Primary school. His message to the students, teachers and parents was to work hard and work together as a team to change education status in the district to produce competitive human resources in Papua New Guinea. On his speech, he has promised to support by funding the cluster primary schools expo in Wampar LLG and eventually to fund the other schools in the district run similar event. He was really convinced on the cluster primary schools expo staged as first of its kind event in his district. He has also promised to build a high school for Wampar LLG area. He stated that under his leadership, he is planning to build an advanced education system in his electorate which the high school would be part of the work to deliver. Jason said the plan to build the high school will be a priority. He continued on with his visit after spending three hours at the school's expo.

Former soccer player David Beckham has queued for 12 hours to see the Queen lying in state in London. Speaking from the line to see the late monarch at Westminster Hall, Beckham said it was an experience "meant to be shared". "We all want to be here together, we all want to experience something where we celebrate the amazing life of our Queen and I think something like this today is meant to be shared together," Beckham told the BBC. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder and England captain told ITV News he joined the line at about 2am local time. The wait time in the queue had increased to at least 19-and-a-half hours by 10:30pm, local time. "I grew up in a household of royalists, if my grandparents would have been here today I know they would have wanted to be here, so I'm here on their behalf," Beckham said. A woman queuing with Beckham said "big respect to him, he's stood with us and he's paid his respects how he wants to". Asked by a reporter if the long wait had affected his knees, Beckham replied, "knees are OK, it's the back". Later inside Westminster Hall, BBC footage showed Beckham sombrely bow his head as he paused at the coffin. The Queen's closed coffin will remain at Westminster Hall until the morning of the state funeral.

Prime Minister James Marape yesterday put a verbal invitation to Papua New Guinea’s Head of State, His Majesty King Charles III,  to officiate at the country’s 50th Independence Anniversary in three years’ time. In a delightful conversation that demonstrated the King’s familiarity and fondness of PNG, King Charles replied to the invitation by saying he “should have to brush up my Pidgin to be sure” and that “I hold Papua New Guinea very much in my heart”. The telephone conversation is a precursor to the in-person meeting the King will soon have with the Prime Minister as part of the events marking the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. It was made by the King directly to the Prime Minister to advise him of the change in meeting dates from 16th to 17th September between the two leaders. As Prime Minister Marape met his staff of the PNG High Commission office in London over a small ‘kaikai’ to mark his arrival in the UK and PNG’s Independence Anniversary, the call was put through from Buckingham Palace to him. Here is an excerpt of the transcript: PMJM: It is not a good time to talk to you now, in the passing of our Queen. But I am happy that you have visited Papua New Guinea four times. We are very fond of you. It is a sad time that you have taken the throne, and I am here to witness your ascension as well as be part of the occasion where we lay your mother, our beloved Queen, to rest. KCIII: It is so good of you to come all the way with your being busy with so many other things. I heard you had a terrible earthquake. PMJM: Yes, we had an earthquake. But our Queen is the Head of State of Papua New Guinea. You were there 47 years ago when we gained Independence and it is really an honour and privilege to represent your people in Papua New Guinea to mark both Her Majesty’s passing and Your Majesty’s ascension to the throne. KCIII: It gives me great comfort and reassurance to know you and other members will be here to mark this great sorrow we all face. And as you say, I have particularly fond memories of being in Papua New Guinea. I cannot thank you enough for the kind and wonderful tribute that you and others have made to the Queen. It is truly touching to me to hear and read what people have been saying. Thank you. PMJM: Your Majesty, the privilege is ours. She served us very well in the last 70 years she was on the throne. For PNG, the last 47 years; we remember very well your coming to Port Moresby on 16th September 1975. Well, it is 16th September 2022 as I am talking to you as the King of Papua New Guinea, the Commonwealth and her realms. KCIII: I shall do my utmost best for you all. I know the kind of challenges you face – climate change and global warming. We must find ways; we have to tackle it. I look forward to having a word with you, hopefully, in a day or two. In the meantime, thank you so much for your kindness. I am very touched. PMJM: Your Majesty, if you don’t mind. In three years’ time, your country Papua New Guinea will be celebrating 50 years of Independence. I would like to, on behalf of your people in PNG, place a call to you, if you can be our chief guest on that occasion. I know you are a very busy man but if Your Majesty can be gracious enough to be with us in Papua New Guinea. KCIII: That’s so kind of you, I shall see what I can do. I should have to brush up my Pidgin to make sure. But many, many thanks and my kindest thoughts and wishes to you. I absolutely love Papua New Guinea, which I hold very much in my heart.

The Eels have dominated the Raiders to take a 40-4 victory and progress through to a preliminary final against the Cowboys next week at Queensland Country Bank Stadium. It was not only the Canberrans’ worst defeat of the season, but their biggest ever finals defeat. Parramatta young gun Will Penisini opened the scoring after a horror error from Jordan Rapana handed his rivals the ball in strong field position. But young gun Xavier Savage had to best his teammate with an "ugly moment" of his own. What seemed like a nothing play turned into a four-pointer for Tom Opacic after the ball bounced through Savage’s legs. “When he didn’t make a play at the ball I thought he was in trouble here, split his legs... huge moment in this game,” Fox League’s Greg Alexander said. “It was an awful bounce but Opacic just chased and chased,” Fox League’s Shane Flanagan said. “This is an ugly moment for him (Savage),” Fox League’s Andrew Voss said. Moments later, a bullet Mitchell Moses pass found winger Waqa Blake who scored a simple try. The Eels continued their red-hot try-scoring form with a simple effort from Junior Paulo who ran through a gap as big as the “Sydney Harbour Bridge”. “Paulo just runs through the Sydney Harbour Bridge... they were shot to bits there Canberra,” Alexander said. “They dragged them all in around the line there, it is a demolition here from the Eels.” While Savage was clearly disappointed with his error early in the contest, he bounced back in a big way to “light up CommBank Stadium”. The young gun showcased his speed to slice through the line and score from 70 metres out. “Not just a try of skill, not just a try of speed, but a try of great character as well,” Voss said. “Xavier Savage, young star lights up CommBank.” From then on Parramatta dominated, and tries to Mitch Moses and a Marata Niukore double handed the Eels a huge victory in front of their home fans. Moses left the field for a HIA in a moment that left Eels fans with their hearts in their throats but passed and returned to the field. Source: Fox News

Fiji expect their men's rugby sevens team to win. After bringing home two Olympics Golds, which are so prized the team's faces are minted on the nations $7 notes, silver at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games was never going to cut it. Losing to New Zealand at the World Rugby Los Angeles 7s final last month was another disappointment. The new head coach, Ben Gollings must've been starting to sweat but now the Flying Fijians are world champions again after their 29-12 victory over New Zealand in Cape Town on Monday. The Melrose Cup, or the "World Cup" is the most prestigious prize in Rugby World Cup Sevens. Fiji has won the title only twice before in 1997 and 2005. On Wednesday night the team arrived at Nandi International Airport, returning the cup to the Fijian shores for the first time in 17 years. A large crowd of media, officials and family greeted the tears amid tears of joy and singing, before garlands were proudly placed around their necks. "This win was special for the team and the nation," said Gollings. "The people are so happy." Gollings hung up the boots in 2011 after a decorated career with England which counts him among the best players in sevens history. He's still holds the career record for most points scored in the World Series Sevens. But he had no international coaching experience before taking over as Fiji coach nine months ago and had to prove himself with team who were the epitome of Fijian national pride. The two big aims for 2022 were a gold at the Commonwealth Games and winning the World Cup. Falling short of a Commonwealth gold, it must have been tears of both relief and joy that rolled down his cheeks as at the sound of final buzzer on Monday. In a beautiful piece of symmetry, Gollings played for England against Fiji the last time the Pacific Island nation won the World Cup Sevens in 2005. "I'm so very proud of the team and management and thankful to the support of my wife and family to make the opportunity a reality," Gollings said. "We are enjoying the celebrations and look forward to what is ahead." Source: ABC Pacific

Roger Federer, one of the greatest players of all time, will retire from top-level tennis after the Laver Cup in London this month. The 20-time Grand Slam champion has not played since Wimbledon 2021, after which he had a third knee operation. "My body's message to me lately has been clear," Swiss Federer, 41, said. "I have played more than 1,500 matches over 24 years. Now I must recognise when it is time to end my competitive career." He added: "To the game of tennis, I love you and will never leave you." Federer has struggled with a knee problem for the past three years that has restricted him to only three of the 11 Grand Slams staged since the start of 2020. He has not played a competitive match since losing to Hubert Hurkacz in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon last summer. He subsequently announced he needed more surgery on his knee having previously had two operations in 2020. Only Spain's Rafael Nadal, with 22 majors, and Serbia's Novak Djokovic, with 21, have more men's Grand Slam singles titles than Federer. "This is a bittersweet decision because I will miss everything the tour has given me," added Federer. "But, at the same time, there is so much to celebrate. I consider myself one of the most fortunate people on Earth. I was given a special talent to play tennis and I did it at a level that I never imagined for much longer than I ever thought possible." As well as thanking his family, support team and fans, Federer also thanked his opponents from a golden era of the men's game. "I was lucky enough to play so many epic matches that I will never forget. We battled fairly, with passion and intensity, and I always tried my best to respect the history of the game. "I feel extremely grateful. We pushed each other, and together we took tennis to new levels." Federer made his professional debut aged 16 in 1998 and won his first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon in 2003. He ends his career with a record total of eight men's singles victories at the All England Club. Federer's final Grand Slam triumph came at the 2018 Australian Open when, aged 36, he became the second-oldest man to win a major singles title in the Open era. After rising to world number one for the first time in 2004, he spent 310 weeks as the leading player on the ATP Tour during his career - a record until he was surpassed by Djokovic in February 2021. He won Olympics doubles gold for Switzerland alongside Stan Wawrinka at Beijing 2008 and singles silver at London 2012 when Britain's Andy Murray reversed his Wimbledon final defeat from the previous month. He was also part of the Swiss team that won the Davis Cup for the first time in 2014 and lifted a record six ATP Finals titles. The three-day Laver Cup, staged at the O2 Arena in Greenwich, begins on Friday, 23 September. Federer is due to join Murray, Nadal, Djokovic, Greece's Stefanos Tsitsipas and Norway's Casper Ruud in a Europe team taking on a team representing the rest of the world. He was part of the group that created and organised the tournament, first held in 2017. Federer's retirement announcement comes less than two weeks after 23-time Grand Slam singles champion Serena Williams played what is expected to be the final match of her career at the US Open. Where Federer won his Grand Slam titles Federer is the most successful grass-court male player of all-time on the back of his unparalleled Wimbledon success, with his last triumph at the All England Club coming in 2017. The Australian Open was the next most successful major tournament for the Swiss, winning six titles at Melbourne Park between 2004 and 2018. He claimed all five of his US Open titles in a row between 2004 and 2008, while his one and only triumph on the French Open clay came in 2009. Federer reached 31 Grand Slam finals in total, doing so for the last time at Wimbledon in 2019 when he lost to Djokovic having held two championship points. Federer retires - reaction The chairman of the All England Lawn Tennis Club, Ian Hewitt, congratulated Federer on a "truly remarkable career". "He will forever be celebrated as one of our greatest Wimbledon champions, having lifted the trophy eight times from his 22 appearances at the All England Club," Hewitt added. "I hope that, in retirement, Roger can look back with enormous satisfaction and pride on all his accomplishments and the high esteem in which he is held by the tennis community." Source: BBC.com

A recent joint security and crisis management forum was facilitated in Porgera specifically to address the ongoing law and order issues in the mining district. This was organised by community group, Restoring Justice Initiative (RJI). The joint law and order security forum was held on 6 September 2022 at Aumbi and included participation from stakeholder partners in the district from the disciplinary forces, business houses, mine landowners and community leaders. Enga Provincial Police Commander (PPC) Acting Superintendent, George Kakas also attended. The forum highlighted the need for all stakeholders to play an active role to support community law and order, and develop a long-term Community Law and Order stakeholder partnership engagement strategy with action plans. Contingent leads of the joint security personnel on operation in Porgera indicated that their efforts have been futile when the root causes of the law and order issues are not being addressed at the community level first. “So many State of Emergencies (SOE) and call-outs have been declared for Wabag and Porgera, and this will continue if you (the local leaders and community representatives) do not organise yourselves. “Porgera is now calm because of the presence of the defence force… If we have to leave Porgera and go, the same issue will continue.. To stop this, the onus is on all you leaders who are present here. Your plans and actions will be enforced by us”, PNGDF Platoon Commander, Lieutenant Brandon Nema told the local leaders and participants at the forum. Sharing similar sentiments, PPC Kakas told the leaders that they needed to unite and put aside self-interests and focus on addressing the law and order issue in the Valley. “We will not declare SOEs all the time when the root causes are still there. So it is up to you all to take the responsibility. “It is good to see you all come in unity to address the law and order issue. All community must corporate. It must have unity. I have to say that many of you have self-interests; looking for ways to benefit yourself in royalty, and positions, because of the packages and privileges such brings. So the focus is not given on the law and order situation in your local area. And you wait for the armies and police to come and ‘cover your sores”, PPC Kakas said. He also said that while he was the PPC in 2014, he engaged with RJI to set up the community policing concept to improve law and order in the valley and this is now the opportunity to enforce that concept. The forum started with presentations by various stakeholders on the impacts and challenges the law and order issues have had on their operations. The community based groups being the Porgera Landowners Association (PLOA), Special Mine Lease (SML) and Lease for Mining Purposes (LMP) were given the opportunity to collectively develop action plans to address the lawlessness in the valley.   PLOA representative and LMP Chairman, Timothy Andambo said law and order has been an ongoing issue for the last 30 years. He said people, including the local leaders have been running away from the issue because there was no unity to address the issue and now that leaders have come together to show unity, LMP will work with SML to find solutions. “Going forward the landowners will take ownership of the problems that exist in the valley. If we don’t take ownership, nobody will come and solve our issues. So it is up to the leaders of the landowners, particularly from the SML and LMP, plus all the other landowners from Porgera to step-up and start facing the reality and start working collaboratively to fix our own issues. Otherwise nobody will solve our problems”, Mr Andambo said.

South Pacific Brewery has affirmed our support for the Goroka Show for yet another with a donation of K10,000 to the Show’s organising committee. Speaking at the cheque presentation was SP Brewery Highlands’ Region Sales Manager Aaron Japu who explains that the sponsorship dates to 1975. “SP Brewery has been supporting the Goroka Show since the year 1975 because SP Brewery is committed to giving back to our people.” He added that the Goroka show is the biggest event in the Highlands region and SP Brewery is delighted to continue our support. “SP Brewery will have a booth set up at the Show to drive our Responsible Consumption agenda,” revealed Japu.

Kina Bank will increase business lending rates by 0.25% effective from 1 October 2022. Kina Bank’s CEO Greg Pawson confirms the changes in rates reflects not only the macro environment in PNG but the global inflationary pressures. The changes in the lending rates are in line with the Central Bank increase of the Kina Facility Rate (KFR) from 3.00% to 3.25% due to the rising pricing of domestic goods and services owing to imported inflation. Kina will apply a 0.25% increase in the Indicator Lending Rate (ILR) to reflect current market conditions. Mr. Pawson said, ‘As the country comes out of a very challenging COVID and ongoing global supply crisis, fears of a global recession have taken centre stage in decision making.’ Initial forecasts for PNG’s inflation in 2022 was 5.00%, however first quarter inflation was higherthan-expected at 6.90% as per the Consumer Price Index (CPI) in March. Much of this inflationary pressure is imported, given the rising fuel prices and volatile commodity prices amidst a complex and unpredictable geopolitical environment. “Kina Bank’s ILR aims to provide our business customers with a transparent and competitive approach to pricing our loan book. We have worked to ensure the lending landscape remains productive. The increase from 6.25% to 6.50% reflects an increase in our cost of funds due to the inflationary environment”, said Mr Pawson. The ILR impacts business loans and overdraft facilities. Kina will make no changes to other loan products such as personal loans, home loans and SME loans. We continue to maintain the most competitive deposit product pricing and product offerings amongst commercial banks. An example if this is our recently launched Tomorrow Savings product paying a market leading rate of 4% as an incentive to promote retail saving.

Hearing the words ‘Finals Week 2’ might be enough to bring on cold sweats among some Eels fans this week, as Parramatta look to avoid their season ending in the second week of the playoffs for the fourth year in a row. On each of their four trips to the finals since their Grand Final appearance in 2009, the Eels have failed to advance past week two, and after losing 27-8 to the Panthers in last week’s Qualifying Final they find themselves in familiar territory once again this season. Parramatta skipper Clint Gutherson said while that unwanted record may be daunting to some, he is using it as motivation ahead of taking on the Raiders at CommBank Stadium on Friday night. “Every player is different, every person, every team is different. I sort of use it as motivation personally, you know where you have been, you know what you have got to do to try and get out of it,” Gutherson said. “We have been here before, a lot of players have been further, but you have just got to go out there and take it a week at a time, it’s do or die now. “We were in the game until probably the 65th minute on the weekend and then a few things just didn’t go our way and it sort of got away from us. We didn’t play anywhere near the footy we wanted to play… you’ve got to learn from it, they taught us how to play the 80-minute game. - Clint Gutherson The recent finals run is just another source of anxiety for a fanbase who have endured a 36-year wait since their last Premiership in 1986. But in better news for the Eels, their record of bouncing back from a defeat this season is impeccable, with Brad Arthur’s side having not lost back-to-back games at any stage in 2022. Prop Junior Paulo said that comes from the squad being able to process and move on from losses quickly. Source: NRL.com

It gives me the greatest pleasure to be here this morning on behalf of Prime Minister Marape to officiate at this flag raising ceremony to commemorate and celebrate Papua New Guinea's 47 years as an Independent Nation. Our Prime Minister is unable to make it as he is away attending to the funeral of our Queen in England, accompanied by the Governor General. He sends his apologies. This occasion provides yet again, that opportunity for us to reflect on our development achievements and challenges over the past 46 years and rechart a meaningful course for progress in the next 50 years and beyond. I want to give thanks to the Merciful and Almighty God for His continued presence and guidance upon us over the past 46 years. On this day 47 years ago, our forefathers raised the flag for the first time. It signaled the end of over 90 years of colonial rule. Australia's flag was not torn down. It was lowered with dignity, which marks the peaceful transition of rule, which is a major achievement in and of itself for a nation of such diversity of a thousand tribes. Our forefathers gave us political independence. On this occasion we must also acknowledge the passing of our head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, who our constituent assembly in 1974 invited to become the Head of State, of a newly emerging nation of Papua New Guinea. We were graced 47 years ago by the presence of His then Royal Highness Prince of Wales Prince Charles, who we have all have collectively proclaimed as the new Head of State for Papua New Guinea. Thus we remain a member of the Commonwealth family of nations. Later today, London time, our Prime Minister and His Excellency the Governor General will have an opportunity to convey our nation's congratulations to His Majesty King Charles III. We mourn the passing of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II and herald the accession to the throne of His Majesty King Charles III. Following the recent National Elections, our people overwhelmingly returned our government to power, and this is evident in that most of our candidates scored 60% of the actual total votes regardless of whether they came first, second or third in the preferences. This is an indication of the trust and confidence that our people have in the governing coalition of PANGU Pati and our partners, in our position on good governance, sound fiscal and economic management and for socio-economic development to be inclusive so that we leave no one behind. The stability and continuity in Government only strengthens our resolve to continue to do more for our country, to ask more for our resources, and to ensure that we sustain our economic recovery plan going forward and at the same time giving confidence to our investment partners so that they too can prosper with us fairly. We are not a new government. We are a continuing government that is now better prepared and positioned to effectively coordinate and deliver on its development priorities in the next five years. This Government is now more targeted and focused on critical areas that will spur future economic growth, and bring much needed development to all of us, particularly the unreached in rural Papua New Guinea especially through our "Connect PNG" program. We have embarked on current key policy and legislative reforms including Budget Repair and Maintenance Program which focuses on getting the economy back on track. The approach undertaken was geared towards debt reduction and prudent management as well as amendments to legislations and policies in key economic sectors to draw maximum outputs and benefits from our resource development sector. The 2019 Loloata Outcome continues to serve as the blueprint and guiding beacon, capturing all the targeted sectoral reforms aligning them with our overall development policies and plans. We cannot just keep talking about concepts, we already have the appropriate policies in place and what we need now is total and unequivocal commitment and hard work to practically realize and implement key concepts to achieve industrialization and economic growth for our people. These policy concepts have been translated into Key Result Areas (KRAs) and Key Performance Indicators (KPls) for respective ministries to implement. This complements the recent restructuring of Government including the creation of new ministries namely International Trade and Investment, Livestock, Oil Palm and Coffee. We are restructuring all our functions of government and harnessing the potential of various sectors such as the Renewable and Non-Renewable sectors that have been lying dormant for the last 46 years. Now is the time to anchor these vast and abundant renewable resources to be the combustion for manufacture and draw maximum profit outputs to sustain our development agenda, especially service delivery to all our people. Our people must also be included and empowered and be participants in this economic growth. No one will do this for our people, we must do it for our children and for our future generations to come. Let us all build Papua New Guinea together - public servants, private sector, business, low- and high income earners, formers, fisherman and ordinary citizens throughout this great nation must play their individual parts. Whilst our focus in years gone by was mainly on the non-renewable resources sector which is depletable and only serves 10% of the economy, we are now giving equal attention to the renewable sector that serves 80% of our people who can be empowered and meaningfully engaged when we appropriately harness the Agricultural Industry. Agriculture is the major priority of our government, and we will extend support to include the Fisheries, Forestry and Tourism sectors whose potential are yet to be fully realized. This Government notes the abundance of our vast natural resources that need to be utilized. More emphasis in the next three years will be placed on harnessing the agriculture sector through introduction of innovative farming methods in cash crop production, livestock, and poultry. We have a large expanse of grassland and arable land in Markam, Ramu Valley and the Sepik Plain. We also have plenty of river streams for irrigation flowing out of Brown River, Purari, Ramu, Sepik, and the Fly River, which can be harnessed foragriculture purposes. The rural masses who are engaged in Agriculture, are our biggest asset that can be easily employed in the sector once we provide them with support and workableinitiatives to toil their land. Our government will continue to provide price support and freight subsidy for major commodities such as cocoa, coffee, rubber, and copra for ease of market accessibility. In the long run, we will re-establish the Price Stabilization Fund to support the rural farmers. This Government realizes the importance of harnessing this sleeping giant and its potential to employ most of our rural population. There is an urgent need for passage of the Agriculture Adjustment and Agriculture Investment Corporation Draft Bills. This includes the proposal to restructure and transition the Oil Palm Industry Corporation (OPIC) into an Authority to effectively deal with all aspects of the Oil Palm Sector such as investing into mills, research and development and market access. The Livestock Industry is in the process of being revived with the reopening of cattle ranches such as Launakalana and abattoirs throughout the country to improve import substitution and domestic food security, thus the creation of specific ministries to drive these agendas. In the forestry sector, the Forest Strategic Plan, 2021 to 2030 was launched last year, which is basically aimed at increasing tax on round log export and eventually banning round log export by 2025. This plan is timely and is in line with government's announcement in 2021 to ban round logs to enable resource owners to venture into downstream processing of our round logs and encourage Plantation development. The Forestry Act is also under review which will give emphasis to the establishment of the State Marketing Agency and to exercise the State's 25% Purchase Option of timber which has been idle since the Act's inception. Our government is committed to give equal opportunity to resource owners to also operate and own business in the medium to long term in the forestry space. The Fisheries Sector through National Fisheries Authority (NFA) is undertaking a major re-focus on its domestic activities to encourage domestication and export of fisheries products to ensure that we receive maximum benefits. In particular, emphasis has been placed on artisanal and inland fisheries programs such as re-stocking of the Highlands River system with trout and farming of mud crabs to build our stock for domestic consumption including export to overseas markets. To secure and protect the vast marine resources we have at our disposal, National Fisheries Authority has beefed up its fisheries surveillance operations to curtail Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing in our waters. Papua New Guinea has pristine and untouched locations such as Lake Kutubu, Surunki and other places that are unique and not found anywhere else in the world. There is clearly untapped potential in PNG for a thriving tourism industry, which would accelerate economic growth through increased employment and market opportunities. A review of the Tourism Promotion Authority Act is underway to ensure that this sector’s potential is appropriately harnessed in order to draw positive economic outcomes. Climate change continues to adversely impact our people and across the Pacific Region, and we must look at innovative technology in climate change adaptation and mitigation. We must reclaim the land that we are losing to rising sea levels and which is causing displacement to our people. The Managalas Conservation area is an opportunity to preserve and conserve our forest resources for real and practical developments for our future generations. This will be replicated in other areas to further conserve our forest resources for our future generations to come. Though we are not satisfied with the underwhelming outcomes of COP 26, we are continuing to progress efforts to regulate the use of fossil fuels in sectors such as energy generation. The reduced application of sulphur concentrated fuels such as heavy oils will also be accelerated. With the endless markets, domestically and internationally particularly in neighbouring Asian countries such as Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, China, India and Korea, our government now has strategic plans to enter these lucrative and niche markets including to export our vast organic produce and non-renewable resources. These will be done through carrying out substantive market analysis and placement of trade commissioners in PNG Diplomatic Post/Missions in the Asian Region. Partnership through Foreign Direct Investment are highly encouraged and will assist in developing our value-add and down-stream processing facilities locally in our special economic zones to bring in much needed revenue streams to support the National Budget. PNG continues to be guided by 'Friends to All and Enemies to None' an Active and Selected Engagement Foreign Policy in conducting its international relations. Our Foreign Policy must be immediately reviewed to enable a strategic outlook and focus with our bilateral and multilateral partners to draw and source development assistance and Foreign Direct Investment that will complement and support our Development Agenda. This will also support our efforts to link up our Provinces and Districts and provide market access and basic services to the many unreached people of our country. Review of the Mining Act 1992 has been completed and once endorsed by NEC, and Parliament will ensure fair and equitable returns to our resource owners, the State and our Developer. Other Amendments that have been passed include Mineral Resource Authority Amendment Act and certain sections of the Mining Act 1992 to accommodate necessary situations. The long-awaited re-opening of Porgera mine will happen during this tenure of this government and Wafi-Golpu project will commence construction phase very shortly. For Ok Tedi, I am proud to say that it continues to pay dividend to the State because of prudent management and favourable weather conditions that allow shipment of ore. Other Mines are in operation and are in preparation for reviews such as Ramu because of increase in output and Lihir which the SML will expire in 2023. In the gas and oil sectors, P'nyang and Papua LNG projects have been successfully negotiated, and are entering the Front-End Engineering Design (FEED) stage. Other Projects such as Elk Antelope and Pasca are being reviewed and pending the satisfaction of the state's project parameters, they will proceed as planned. Review of Oil and Gas Act 1998 is progressing well with necessary changes on benefit sharing arrangements. Other necessary amendments have been completed to accommodate situations. Our economy cannot develop and progress if our service industries are not reliably functioning. To support our economy, we have embarked upon major reforms of our State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) to improve their overall performance in terms of service delivery and revenue generation to complement the National Budget. These reforms are also intended to ensure profitability, improved services in the airline industry, water, electricity, and telecommunications and ensure independence of the SOE's as well as create gender balance in appointment of the Board of Directors to encourage good governance. In 2021, Telikom and Bmobile were merged into a single retail business, allowing our government to approve the partial privatization of the merged entity, to raise much needed capital to support the National Transmission Network (NTN) Project. This was followed by the merging of Water PNG and Eda Ranu. The reforms exercise has also expanded to include the restructuring of the PNG Power Limited and establishment of National Energy Authority (NEA) to regulate energy development that will see the rollout of the National Electrification Roll Out Program (NEROP). This effort has been complimented by our development partners through the PNG Electrification Program (PEP) by connecting 70% households by 2027. Aside from that, Air Niugini has embarked on major recovery programs to bolster service levels and revenue generation at the cost of K120 million following the advent of COVID-19. The Connect PNG Program also, which is expected to cost up to K20 billion which is K1 billion a year and will be funded by the Government and its development partners. Priority road projects under construction in the first phase will include major seven national economic road corridors which will cover 4,244.6 km of roads that connect our people to basic government services and markets throughout PNG. The construction of these key quality road infrastructure development projects will enable the creation of businesses, with job opportunities for our people to utilize to sustain and improve their livelihoods. Trade and Investment are also key ingredients to our growing economy as can be seen from revenue generated from PNG exports that totalled USD 9.34 Billion while Foreign Direct Investment for 2020 was at USD 0.94B, a 3.87% increase from 2019. This is an exciting time to increase trade revenue and harness business and investment opportunities. The creation of the recent Trade and Investment Ministerial Portfolio will take carriage and coordination of our investment priorities to grow the economy, bring in innovation and state of the art technology and facilities, transfer of skills and knowledge and increase Foreign Direct Investment. All these development plans and initiatives will not be achieved without a safe and secure environment and this Government, your government will therefore be addressing law and order problems head on. I call on all men of this great nation to be responsible in carrying out their duties to respect and protect our womenfolk, children, persons with disabilities and the vulnerable within our societies. This is critical in ensuring a safe and secure environment for all our citizens to live in peace, harmony, and work to grow the economy of this country. If you continue to commit crime and illegal activities, you are considered an enemy of our State and will be severely tried for your crimes under our laws. Our government is also paying full attention to industrializing the economy leading into our 50th Anniversary of independence. We invite existing and potential multilateral and bilateral donors to partner with us in value-adding and downstream processing of our vast natural resources for fair and equitable returns for our resource owners, state, and developers. This will also generate revenue streams that will increase our foreign exchange and complement our national budget. Industrialization is a very bold undertaking by this Government, and it requires the concerted effort of all our people, business and investors and the Government and Development Partners. We also want to dispel the common perception that Papua New Guinea is incapable of embarking on major industrialization projects. We cando it. The Government as I mentioned earlier is now better positioned to see through its plans and initiative's, including the policy and legislative amendments through reforms, restructuring and readjusting of our Cabinet and Public Service. The future is promising and requires our collective resolve and commitment to make us a modernized society that is structured and ensuring its people are positively impacted by the Government's development plans. Until such time that our people in remote Lagai village in Menyamya, Mougolu village in Western Province and Pataku Island in Manus, can access a fully stocked aid post and a fully resourced school, only then can we have a reason to celebrate. Let us celebrate our 47th year peacefully with our families and with a reinvigorated outlook and approach to improve for the better in the road to our 50 years of Nationhood in the next three years. It gives me great pleasure today to come here this morning. This is also my first time to attend Independence Ceremony here in Port Moresby, I usually go back home to my people of Lae, But, It gave me a lot of pride when I walked inside this morning and I saw all our people, including young children, come to celebrate independence, carrying our flag, that shows pride and it made me, as a Member, Deputy Prime Minister and Acting Prime Minister, a very, very proud Papua New Guinean. We must all unite. It is our 47 years today. It shows our growth and resilience as a Nation. When we all come together, it shows our pride as Papua New Guineans. When I travel to other places and I get on the plane and travel back and land at Jacksons International Airport, I get a feeling of peace in me, that I have arrived back home in my own country. And when I see our people, despite hardships, despite everything, we have overcome so much. We will overcome all adversities, all negativities and we will prosper as a nation and show everyone else that we are Papua New Guinea and we are here to stay. With this, I would like to wish you, all the people of Papua New Guinea, Happy Independence. God Bless you all.