Pre-Apec promotion important

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By MALUM NALU
PAPUA New Guinea must do everything it can to promote itself in a positive light for next year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit, says United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNTWO) secretary-general Dr Taleb Rifai.
“You need to rebrand the country,” Rifai said.
“You need to present the country in a new light.”
He is in the country this week for the UNWTO national forum on sustainable tourism for development in Port Moresby.
Rifai said the unity and diversity of the country needed to be promoted much more in the remaining months up to the summit.
He said the fact that the country had 830 languages was an example.
“No country in the world has that. That’s what you must be able to do before Apec 2018 because at the summit, you have the world looking at you,” Rifai said.
“You have the media, you will be in the spotlight.
“With thousands of people coming here, you can’t afford any shortcomings.”
He stressed the importance of training for those involved in the summit.
Rifai, in the presence of Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tobias Kulang and Tourism Promotion Authority chief executive officer Jerry Agus, said PNG needed to be promoted in every way possible before the summit.