Emmanuel MAIPE

Over a hundred international delegates from 14 different countries will be arriving in Port Moresby next week for the World Indigenous Business Forum (WIBF). The 150 international delegates are part of over 500 delegates that are expected to converge into Port Moresby next week to attend and participate in the WIBF that will be hosted from October 24th to the 26th. Minister for International Trade and Investment, Richard Maru said that this is really a great opportunity to market Papua New Guinea (PNG) to the world. “I also look forward to seeing our local businesses showcasing their products, building international networks, creating partnerships, and looking for markets among all the countries that will attend the forum,” said the minister. Minister Maru also called on all indigenous SMEs and large companies who have registered to prepare well and take full advantage of this one-off opportunity to market their products and services to the delegates from around the world who will be coming to attend this forum. “You must also canvas new business opportunities and forge partnerships to grow your businesses with new indigenous partners from around the world.” This three-day event will start with a grand opening ceremony hosted by National Capital District Commission (NCDC) and the Amazing Port Moresby Team at Sir Hubert Murray Stadium on Tuesday, October 24th. The forum will be officially opened on Wednesday, October 25th by the Prime Minister, and will end with an official closing ceremony which will be hosted by NCDC and the Amazing Port Moresby Team at Ela Beach on Thursday, October 26th. Meanwhile, Minister Maru also wants all citizens, especially those in Port Moresby, to welcome all the delegates and give them a very good impression of the capital city. “We must all work together to ensure that they go back with very good memories of their time in Papua New Guinea.”

Great news for fuel consumers, PUMA ENERGY PNG should resume full supply of fuel by this afternoon. PUMA ENERGY PNG Chairman and Managing Director Mr. Hulala Tokome confirmed with PNG HAUSBUNG that the fuel rationing will stop and all sites should be back to normal at least by 4pm this afternoon. "We have received FX thanks to the Bank of PNG and the Deputy Prime Minister intervening," said Mr. Tokome. Earlier this week, Puma Energy announced that it was forced to commence fuel rationing to manage declining fuel stocks to protect fuel security in the country, after the fuel distributor did not receive in time the required Foreign Currency (FX) to continue normal operations. Puma Energy PNG needs roughly USD$50 million on a monthly basis to import fuel and to cater for the company's unpaid fuel bills that are well in excess of USD$100 million. Nevertheless, the recent release of FX should enable the normal supply of fuel nationwide for the time being until a better solution is found to end this cycle of fuel rationing experienced lately in the country.

The recently hosted inaugural Momase Regional Youth Games (RYG) was deemed as success especially because sixty youths were identified by the Papua New Guinea Sports Foundation (PNGSF) to go for further sporting development. According to the National Youth Development Authority (NYDA), the PNG Sports Foundation High Performance Unit had scouted sixty players in total under the five sporting codes of volley, basketball, touch footy, soccer and para-athletics from the games played from the 5th to the 30th of September in Madang. Furthermore, two male soccer talents from Angoram in East Sepik province were also scouted to join the National Soccer League (NSL) and one female basketball talent was selected join the FIBA Under- 17 Oceania Championships Women’s Basketball hosted recently in Port Moresby. These are rural talents brought right to the fore by using the RYG as the sport career pathway, to give them the opportunity to further their sporting dreams. The Regional Youth Game concept aligns with three important government policy; PNG Sports Policy, National Youth Policy and Integrated Community Development Policy, making it a home-grown concept with rural focus and aims to identify rural talents and push them for further skills development. The NYDA also thanked Madang Governor, Ramsey Pariwa, and Provincial Administrator, Mr. Frank Lau for their undivided support to the concept, and the Games Organizing Committee. Meanwhile, the three partners behind the concept the NYDA, PNGSF and the Department for Community Development and Religion, are pleased with the outcome and look forward for the Highlands and the New Guinea Islands Regional Youth Games next year.

The Papua New Guinea (PNG) Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), the Treasury and JICA, will soon proceed into phase two of the boosting of data transparency in the Mining and Petroleum sectors following the signing of the "Record of Discussion” in Port Moresby this week. The signing of the Record of Discussion is for the project for Improving Resource Related Revenue Management Phase Two between the three organisations and is aimed at improving resource related revenue management through enhanced EITI reporting to ensure transparency in how the funds are managed. PNGEITI Head of National Secretariat, Mr. Lukas Alkan said the Record of Discussion between PNGEITI and its stakeholders and JICA was undertaken back in August and the signing on Wednesday 18th October, has now set things in motion for phase two to commence early next year. The second project will be undertaken by JICA experts to continue building and improving capacity at the Department of Petroleum and Energy from work that was undertaken in phase one of the project and at the same time, focus on building capacity at the Auditor Generals Office to improve financial data quality, reliability and timely availability of recourses related to data and information for public used, said Mr. Alkan. He further explained that the JICA technical cooperation program will focus on building and strengthening capacities at two key government organisations; the Department of Petroleum and Energy, and the Office of the Auditor General. Mr. Alkan said addressing weakness in data reliability and quality in these two agencies is important to the work of the PNGEITI Secretariat in its endeavors to addressing the data and information gaps as highlighted through the EITI reporting process. The three year program would basically pick up from where JICA had left off at the Department of Petroleum and Energy when phase one of the project ended a year ago. The project is also intended to assist strengthen capacity at the Auditor Generals Office to ensure that the financial data that are used in the EITI annual report are audited and are reliable to improve the quality of these reports. Mr. Alkan then thanked the Japan Government through JICA for its continued support in the Government of PNGs efforts to implement the EITI Global Standard to improve extractive sector governance. He also acknowledged JICA for coming on board for the second time to help improve extractive transparency, which is the core mandate of the EITI in the PNG Mining and Petroleum space. The second phase of the project will commence in March, 2024. Meanwhile, the signing of the Record of Discussion was done between the Acting Chairman of the PNGEITI Multi- Stakeholder Group Mr. John Uware and Mr. Matsuoka Hideaki, the JICA Chief Representative to PNG.

The move to have parliament pay the allowances for the Ward Members throughout the country has come as a relief for the Department of Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs, as it will ensure payments are made on time. Minister for Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs, Mr. Soroi Eoe who was speaking during a press conference this week, said that for a while now the department has been taking the heat on not paying outstanding Member allowances, even though it wasnt the departments responsibility. SRC (Salaries and Remuneration Commission) determination, which its report was produced last year, has brought Ward Members to the ambient of the National Parliament. So, in other words every elected leader who will be paid for by parliament, the funds will be allocated direct from the Treasury to parliament, said Minister Eoe. So, at least it takes that responsibly away from us. Thats a good thing and Im pleased with it because otherwise, our people will continue to blame us for not doing this important task. By stating this, the minister alluded that the Ward Members can now be also paid on time and not having to wait for longer periods. Reflecting on the work of his department, the minister gave a run through of their current responsibilities and the reasons for the delayed payment of allowances for the Ward Members. “Were asked to give up to date information on allowances and some times its embarrassing. But our job is basically to ensure the policy matters are implemented and administration matters are implemented. When it comes to finance, we dont deal with the finance, the minister clarified. Mr. Eoe explain that they have had to go out of their way to get the money from the Treasury to pay the Ward Members, which has been going on for some time under his leadership as Minister. “Ive had Ward Members calling from remote parts of Papua New Guinea (PNG) and I was able to talk to them, but some times I may have given them misleading information, because I tell them that its okay, our officers are dealing with it and by this time you should be able to get it. The reality is that its beyond our control because money has to come from Treasury. The minister is hoping that things should change soon and everything works well for the Ward Members in the country. Meanwhile, the Minister also announced that the Treasury has released K30 million to pay Ward Members outstanding allowances, which should cover the period of April to August 2023. Thereafter, we'll still go back to Treasury to give us new batch of money to pay for the balance, hopefully for September to December.

The Morobe Governor and newly appointed Chairman of the new Bipartisan Committee to look into provincial government systems, Luther Wenge, aims to achieve the goals of the government to identify a workable system that would be implemented at the provincial levels to achieve development goals. Speaking during his official appointment as Chairman, Wenge thanked the Minister for Provincial Government and Local Level Government Affairs, Soroi Eoe for having faith in his leadership and appointing him as Chairman. Wenge vows to work towards achieving the government’s goal on reforming provincial government systems. “I shall do my best with intellectual ability and with the experience as a governor for fifteen years. I as a leader will chair this very important bipartisan committee to deliver in consistence with the Terms of Reference what this committee is required to do for this country,” said Mr. Wenge. The reason for his show of commitment is because of the current situation faced by the people in the remote and the remotest parts of the country, whom services and development has not reached for the past 40 years because of no roads, bridges, airstrips and even proper wharfs. Governor Wenge pointed out that as a government, it must answer the cries of its people but the Organic Law on Provincial Governments, which said to deliver services to those areas, is not really working effectively as expected, even though the law was in motion since 1995. It is for this reason that the Bipartisan Committee was established on the back of the Governors’ Conference earlier this year in Port Moresby. The aim was for politicians, provincial administration teams, and departmental heads and experts to put their heads together to identify loopholes in the current laws and come up with recommendations for changes that would give more power to the provincial governments to deliver on the services and developments for their people. The whole idea is to decentralize powers from the national level, where it is deemed proper for the provincial level to perform them. Meanwhile, the new Bipartisan Committee consists of Members of Parliament, departmental professionals and provincial teams who will work together to achieve the Terms of Reference listed for the Committee to go by in their work to review the currently provincial government systems.

The World Indigenous Business Forum (WIBF) will be hosted in Port Moresby in a few weeks’ time and apart from making the best of business connectivity with the rest of the world, the Forum will serve as platform to promote Papua New Guinea (PNG) to the rest of the world. The Minister for International Trade and Investment, Richard Maru certainly believes in that which is why his Department of International Trade and Investment (DITI) is running point on the hosting of this event that would see the indigenous businesses from across the globe, gather in the capital city for this significant event. The minister even told the Prime Minister during a recent gathering that he should be proud of this because his efforts and that of his government to make PNG become an attractive investment and even tourism destination, are starting to bear fruit. “We promote our country as a country of so many cultures, nice people, and a country that is full of investment opportunities,” said the minister. “So, this is a wonderful opportunity to promote ourselves as a nation as we count down to the fifty years of our independence.” Minister Maru said it's high time PNG steps forward and shows the global community that despite the negative stories, the country and its people have a lot to offer to the rest of the world. “So, this event is going to be a big event and we are hoping that this event will change the views of many people around the world.” Meanwhile, the WIBF will be staged from the 24th to the 26th of October with all the exhibitions, dialogues and presentations taking place at the APEC Haus and the Ela Beach.

The New Porgera Mine in the Enga province is nearing its re- opening with the latest progress being the approval of the Special Mining Lease (SML) 13 to New Porgera Limited (NPL). The Governor General Sir Bob Dadae granted SML to NPL on Friday 13th October, following the signing of the Mining Development Contract by the State and NPL. The State and NPL also executed the Fiscal Stability Agreement for the New Porgera project. Barrick Gold President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Bristow congratulated the parties on achieving these major milestones which now brings the mine significantly closer to restart. “These are among the key agreements that must be signed for the mine to reopen. The only remaining step before the people of Porgera can see the ‘white smoke’ they have been waiting for is the conclusion of new compensation agreements with the project landowners,” Bristow said. NPL will meet with tenement agents in the coming week to commence the negotiation of those agreements. Barrick Niugini Limited (BNL) has maintained the mine in care and maintenance for over 3 years in preparation for the restart and has taken the necessary steps to position New Porgera to reopen by the end of 2023. Recruitment is being accelerated to employ the additional workforce required for Porgera to ramp up operations as soon as the compensation agreements are in place.

The Local Level Government (LLG) Elections is confirmed for mid-2024 and this election may see for the first the LLG presidents being elected by the people, in a presidential style of election. The Minister for Provincial and Local Level Government Affairs, Soroi Eoe said the matter of deciding the course of future LLG President elections was discussed last week and also this week during government caucus. Minister Eoe said since last week Cabinet debated whether or not people should elect the presidents of the various LLGs or continue with the current process where Ward members would elect the presidents. Since then, Mr. Eoe said he raised the issue to get the reaction of the members of the government caucus as to how the presidents would be elected. “So, we conducted a government caucus last week and this week and the majority of the Members of Parliament would like to see presidents be elected by the people.” “So, this is what I will be taking to the Cabinet and then after Cabinet has endorsed that, then we can then present it to the Governor General for endorsement and approval.” Should this go through, Papua New Guinea would see a new type of voting system introduced at the LLG level, where the people will have the power to decide on who they want to be their LLG President.

The Local Level Government (LLG) elections will be conducted mid next year with funding to be made available for it. That was the confirmation from the Minister for Provincial and Local Level Government (LLG) Affairs, Soroi Eoe when responding to questions from the Southern Highlands Governor William Powi, on the status of the long awaited LLG elections in the country. "This is an important election of the third level of government, which is an important part of our government system; therefore, funds will be made available. I know our government will make the funds available to fund this very important election,” said the minister. “As to how much it will cost, that will be subject to discussions between my department and the electoral commission to come up with a budget to conduct this very import election.” Governor Powi had asked the minister during question time in parliament this week on the funding aspect of the election as well because he was concerned about how the LLG elections, especially in his province, were conducted in the past and how this has become a major spender of funds despite it being a third-tier election. Powi is concerned that resources directed to the District Development Authority (DDA) might be used again for the hosting major campaigns and camps during the LLG election period. He has urged that this area should be also looked at seriously by the government. Meanwhile, the LLG elections will be conducted from July to August 2024.

The Port Moresby AFL (POMAFL) Association has decided against holding a grand final rematch, instead coming up with a decision to settle the match following the unfortunate brawl during last weekend’s A- Grade grand- final that disrupted the match. POMAFL President Mr. Douglas Lai in a written statement, said that the fight during last weekend’s grand final match involving supporters and players from both the Gereka Bombers and the Gordons Kokofas, was unfortunate. “On the matter, we regret that we have reached the end of this season with this reprehensible grand final result with the seniors’ game ending in the brawl. Hence, after postmortem of the debacle, a decision has been made to put this issue to rest.” The president said after a serious deliberation over the last three days, the executives of the POMAFL Association have decided to award a tie to both teams. The reasons for the decision are as follows. 1. It is important to acknowledge the outstanding commitment and performance of the two seniors (A- Grade) teams of Gereka Bombers and Gordons Kokofas in this 2023 season. 2. There were no clear winners as the match was incomplete. 3. There will be no rematch of the grand- final. “Again, our sincere apologies on the grand final brawl and we assure you that the matter will be addressed and sorted before the commencement of the 2024 POMAFL season,” said the president.

The Minister for International Trade and Investment, Richard Maru has assured parliament that the Pacific Maritime Industrial Zone (PMIZ) Project in Madang is on track to commence construction by next year and onwards. Minister Maru, when responding to questions from the Member for Kundiawa on the status of the PMIZ project during question time in parliament this week, said the project is currently in the negotiation phase with RD Tuna Cannery, to partner with the government to develop the project. “So, the government’s plan is to go into a joint venture agreement with them, start the fishing and look at building a first big world class cannery in PMIZ next year using some of the funds that the government has provided for in the budget, K70 million for PMIZ and K30 million for the Manus province to go into fisheries,” said Minister Maru. “So, that’s where we are at. At this stage we are hoping that the State Negotiation Team and the RD team will conclude the negotiations over the next four weeks, and a proposal will come back to Cabinet to set up the first joint venture company.” Maru explained that once this goes through, it will for the first-time see Papua New Guineans be able to own fishing boats and fish their own waters, plus the country to have bigger and better fish processing facilities to process the country’s own catches and export to overseas markets in large quantities. “This is a very important step, and I am happy to inform parliament that in the next few weeks I should be bringing back a proposal to Cabinet on how we can go into a joint venture and by next year, start building the first fish processing plant within the PMIZ.” "If we get the first one up, I have no doubt many other investors will start looking at putting up processing facilities within PMIZ and then that’s how we’ll get it built at the cheapest cost possible.” He further explained that idea to partner with RD Tuna is that the company already has an existing fish processing plant in Madang next to the PMIZ project area and instead of building the PMIZ on its own and spend more money, a partnership with RD Tuna was the best option as it would cost less to develop the PMIZ project. Meanwhile, once completed the PMIZ Project is expected to create employment for 10, 000 Papua New Guineans.