Eye With in an Eye

22/09/2022

22/09/2022

18/09/2022

12/09/2022

08/09/2022

05/09/2022

With its potential to generate up to $5 trillion in value by 2030, the metaverse is too big for companies to ignore.

30/08/2022

21/08/2022

August 18, 2022

PM MARAPE ASKS AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS SECTOR TO PARTNER PNG IN DOWNSTREAM PROCESSING AND INDUSTRIALIZATION

PRIME Minister James Marape called on Australian businesses to consider importing more from Papua New Guinea (PNG) to balance the disproportionate import-vs-export scale existing between the two countries.
Marape said he wanted to see more Australian businesses to consider importing more from PNG to move his government's goals on downstream processing and industrialization closer to realization.
"We want to take back more from our natural and national wealth with a balanced view that our genuine foreign investors make a return on their investments.
"We want to move into downstream processing of our natural resources.
"I want to ask Australia companies to seriously partner PNG companies in the area of PNG building a stronger diversified economy and it is about time Australia buy more of PNG's products."
Marape made this call yesterday while apologizing to the 2022 Business Advantage Papua New Guinea Investment Conference for his non-attendance due to urgent work commitments.
He added that while appreciating the relationship that is already existing between the two countries, new heights could be reached if Australia could push its trade and investment boundaries further by exploring the options he pointed out.
"Australia and PNG business have had a relationship for a long time and that is good but we need to reach new heights.
"With Australia as a place of export for our products, we have a huge trade imbalance where we import more and export less to Australia.
"We want to send our food, our energy, our finished products, and our human resources at all levels to Australia.
"It is about time PNG and Australia as close nations politically become even more closer in by having Australian business buying PNG products and hiring PNG workforce."

20/08/2022

19/08/2022

Pacific leaders have welcomed the biggest climate funding package in United States history.

The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden on Tuesday, includes $533 billion ($US369 billion) in funds designed to cut domestic greenhouse gas emissions and boost investment in renewable energy.

Additional funding estimates bring the total package to more than $625 billion ($US432 billion) to address the long-term effects of climate change.

Fiji's Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said on Twitter it was an important show of solidarity to the Pacific, while the Pacific Islands Forum called it a win for the planet.

Climate Council researcher Dr Wesley Morgan said the funding package is a "big deal" for the Pacific region.

"The symbolism here is really important. There's a real link between climate and geopolitics. Pacific countries are telling major powers like the US 'if you want to be a security partner of choice, we want to see you acting on our key security threat'."

Listen to the interview: https://ab.co/3A8ELD7

16/08/2022

The fourth PNG Energy and Petroleum Summit which will be held in Port Moresby next month is expecting a huge turn-out from PNG and across the region.

14/08/2022

Last Friday, a Departmental Head Meeting was convened by the Secretary for Prime Minister and NEC Ambassador Ivan Pomaleu. Secretary Pomaleu, relayed Prime Minister's call for all heads to step up and for:

- 2019-2022 Reports to be submitted by COB 16th August 2022;
- 5 year plans for each sector to be put forward and ensure all plans have measurable indicators and set targets.

I had the opportunity to contribute to the discussion to which I highlighted that Section 48, 28, and 29 of the Digital Government Act 2022 now calls for:

1. All data collected by public bodies to now be collected electronically (at first point of collection)

2. Standards to be developed and enforced on data collection, storage, and sharing.

3. All data to be stored on the private government cloud within a 'central repository'.

I highlighted that should the Act be effectively implemented, we should no longer have this discussion of 'lack of data for decision making'. I called for the Medium Term Development Plan 2023 - 2027 to feature prominently the digital agenda.

For the ICT Sector, we will be submitting our Report as per instructions.

I will be sharing the report publicly this week for you all to see how far we've come and recieve feedback from you all.

Steven Matainaho
Secretary, PNG Department of ICT

14/08/2022

PM Marape furthers negotiations in Singapore on trade, investment projects including frontier-breaking clean green energy production

Approved for release :
Sunday 14 August 2022

Prime Minister Hon. James Marape hits the ground running in the frontier-breaking clean green energy projects he has been championing over the last two years when he met with leaders of Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) in Singapore today to progress the talks further.

He said from Singapore FFI has voiced its intention to partner Papua New Guinea in a big way to harvest clean green energy from both hydro and geothermal sources as well as move later down the line into solar and wind energy production.

Currently, FFI has identified and set up project sites in Gulf Province for hydro and West New Britain Province for geothermal work and has been working in these areas since the signing of two important agreements since 2021.

Prime Minister said from Singapore today: “With global consciousness of fossil fuel-induced global warming, clean green energy is the way to moving into the future and this meeting follows on the Head Agreement PNG has signed with FFI to progress investment in this energy sector.”

The Prime Minister flew into Singapore to continue these important trade & investment conversations including those on Papua LNG, Pasca LNG, Pn’yang LNG and also to get Porgera and Wafi-Golpu sanctioned.

The Prime Minister also visited the PNG High Commission in Singapore with a view to strengthen it further as a trade and investment office while getting the PNG government to increase trade and investment with the ASEAN and APEC countries.

He said: “The Singapore office will be given more support in that context in partnership with Investment Promotion Authority, the Kumul companies, National Fisheries and Forestry authorities, and our Agriculture & Livestock departments so that it coordinates export and trade into the lucrative Asian market of over 2 billion people who need food and energy, and products PNG can mass produce into the future as we are planning under my government.”

[End]

12/08/2022

11/08/2022

Bangladesh's Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal has issued a warning to developing nations about the risks of taking additional loans through China's BRI.

11/08/2022

By: Kessy Sawang Many of you may not have read nor understood our country’s economic books and statistics. So I thought I’ll highlight some critical issues, the first one being Debt. Let me...

10/08/2022

The Business Help Desk this week will feature an opinion piece from a renowned Papua New Guinean in the business world ANTHONY SMARE who suggested what the new government needs to look at to turn around the economy.

08/08/2022

Eastern Highlands Governor Peter Numu has been arrested and charged for allegedly interrupting counting.

07/08/2022

07/08/2022

07/08/2022

05/08/2022

03/08/2022

CALL TO COMMENCE FULL DIGITIZATION OF PNG GOVERNMENT SERVICES IN 2023

Press Statement, 3rd August 2022

The PNG Department of ICT calls to commence in 2023 a whole-of-government approach to digitize and automate the entire public service .

In the last two years, through the ministerial leadership of Hon Rainbo Paita and Hon Timothy Masiu, the PNG Department of ICT has worked towards establishing a mandate and enacting enforcement mechanisms for a digital government. The Digital Transformation Policy was endorsed in 2020 followed by the enactment of the Digital Government Act in 2022.

Last week the PNG Department of ICT released the draft Digital Government Plan 2023 – 2027 (‘draft Plan’). The draft Plan outlines a roadmap to digitize Government-to-Citizen, Government-to-Government, and Government-to-Business digital services, establish and maintain digital service standards, and complete broadband coverage to 90 percent of the population by 2027.

This is our journey so far and 2023 must now be the year to accelerate in digitizing our government (G2C, G2G, and G2B digital services).

By now, there should be no doubt that ICT is an extremely powerful tool to improve service delivery, eliminate corruption, and grow the economy. And we can only deliver through a coordinated approach. In line with the draft Plan, we must start talking about consolidating all siloed ICT projects into one sector and delivering through a whole-of-government approach.

Moving forward, the PNG Department of ICT will be consulting closely with Government Central Agencies and key stakeholders to continue this priority for a digital nation.

Approved for Release

STEVEN MATAINAHO
Secretary
PNG Department of Information and Communication Technology

30/07/2022

29/07/2022

09/07/2022

01/07/2022

26/06/2022

26/06/2022