STRICTLY BUSINESS PNG’s business elite gathers commitment to reducing the cost of doing business and pointed to continued major investment in infrastructure. He also said that the government had learned the lesson of the past five years: that the economy was too reliant on the resources sector and needed to develop other sectors, such as agriculture and tourism. “Over the next five years, our policy priority going forward is economic growth. We have to increase exports, decrease imports and get more value from our resources. This is what we have to do, and do it quite quickly.” Delivering on three key resources projects – Wafi-Golpu, Frieda River and the second Papua LNG project – will be a high priority in the next five years, he says. Chairman of the APEC PNG 2018 Coordinating Authority, Sir Charles Lepani, outlined how plans for PNG’s hosting of APEC next year are progressing, with 15,000 delegates expected,
EVENTS
Networking ... in between formal sessions, delegates at the conference had time to swap notes
while Mahesh Patel, chairman of Kumul Telikom, described the efforts being made to make state-owned telcos more responsive to consumers and to reduce costs. David Hill, country director of the Asian Development Bank in PNG, gave the bank’s view of PNG’s economy, and outlined its plans
to invest $US2 billion in key infrastructure over the coming decade, including $US1 billion on the Highlands Highway, a vital lifeline for the PNG economy. This was followed by case studies of successful PNG companies: SP Brewery in manufacturing (with chief executive officer,
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