Country to expect Apec benefits

PAPUA New Guinea will definitely be tapping into some of the world’s largest economies in terms of development with the various agreements on the weekend.
Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, amid critics, has always maintained that PNG has a lot benefit from hosting Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation).
We witnessed various agreements between Papua New Guinea and some of the economics.
The United States of America, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and PNG have entered into a K3.6 billion agreement which will see 70 per cent of PNG lit up with electricity by 2030.
PNG and the Republic of Philippines have signed a Memorandum of Agreement that paves way for shared partnership in the production and commercialisation of rise in Papua New Guinea.
US announced it will partner with PNG and Australia on their joint initiative at Lombrum Naval Base on Manus Island.
Bilateral dialogue reached between the PNG and Japan on the development assistance to PNG including funding for the Bougainville referendum.
The K15 million newly developed Gordon market co-funded by the New Zealand Government was opened yesterday.
China also signed an agreement for a grant aid of K150 million that will enable about 2500 scholarships within the Pacific region including with the bulk of it will be PNG because of the population and size of our country.
Prior to the Apec Leaders Summit, PNG received Chinese President Xi Jinping for his first state visit where he detailed friendship plans. The visit coincided with the opening of the Independence Boulevard which China provided funding for.
He also opened the Butuka Academy in Port Moresby which was funded and built by the Chinese Government as a gift to PNG under the sister city relationship between the Shenzhen City of China and Port Moresby at the cost of K70million.
PNG stands to benefit from the above.
Apart from that, continuous dialogue must continue for the various sector meetings held so they actually translate into realities for the people. The challenge is how to ensure that PNG is not left behind.
We have come this far and it is only right, we keep going forward to achieve our goal.
It is time for us to learn from our past mistakes and move forward.
Hearing from the developed economies, let us work on our policies, governance and political system for a fair distribution of goods and services.
Let us embrace the challenge of road networking in the country, put aside all differences and work with our donor partners and friends in achieving a system that allows for the free flow of goods and services.
It will be slow for some while others it will move at a faster pace but once the foundation is laid, things will fall into place.
Governments after Governments can dream up big plans but if the road network is not there, then the dreams become hard to achieve.
Once the road accessibility is available, then issues surrounding schools, health, aid posts and hospitals can be the next area to work on.
Then technology comes into the picture which should be accessible, and affordable to its citizen.
Various presentations pointed the many opportunities that PNG can tap into to increase its income.
And a point raised by the Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Bin Mohamad that we agree is that bad policies widen the income gap.
And that countries must learn from the experience of others about good and bad policies, so we can avoid the bad ones.