‘Take full advantage of favourable conditions’

National, Normal
Source:

The National

UNDER the national strategic plan (NSP) 2010-50, Papua New Guinea can take full advantage of current favourable market conditions in its agriculture and mining sectors.
Deputy Prime minister Sir Puka Temu said this on Wednesday in the address to the nation at the flag raising ceremony at Independence Hill to commemorate the country’s 34th Independence.
“The economy is poised for continued growth, propelled by sharp improvements in terms of trade on the back of rising demand for our commodities by China and India,” Sir Puka said.
He said the nation’s NSP journey would see a more mature and experienced approach to planning and management of our development agenda.
In addition, of significance to the NSP were the Ramu nickel and Lihir mines and others including the PNG LNG projects which has a lifespan of 30 to 40 years.
“The key thrust of the plan is to make a major shift in our development
thinking.
“That is to not fully rely on our non-renewable resource sector but to strategically invest in or broad-based sustainable development programme by developing and realising the potential we have in agriculture, tourism, fisheries, forestry and environment,” Sir Puka said.
“And to complement this, we must invest heavily in skilling and training our citizens and create a knowledge-based population.”
Sir Puka admitted that a major challenge was that many remote dwellers had been denied adequate access to good health services, quality education or access to markets to sell produce or even easy access to credit to offset small business for far too long.
He gave assurance that the Government understood the daily situations they faced to make ends meet and acknowledged the reason why in many parts of the country there would be no reason for celebration on the 34th Independence Day.
But as a sovereign nation, it was now time to learn from its past failures and build on the achievements guided by the NSP, which critically looks at the facts, lessons and our experiences and aimed at achieving economic and social advancement, Sir Puka said.