Agreement paves way for people to register entities

A MEMORANDUM of understanding (MoU) signed between the Northern administration and the Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) will assist people register and do business in the province, IPA managing director Clarence Hoot says.
Northern acting administrator Trevor Magei and Hoot signed the MoU yesterday.
Hoot said it was part of the authority’s ongoing effort in extending services to the provinces.
Northern is the eighth province to sign the MOU with IPA.
Other provinces include Milne Bay, New Ireland, East Sepik, Madang, Morobe, East New Britain and West New Britain.
“This MoU intends to chart a way forward where IPA can work closely with the provincial administration in the delivery of services that we provide at the national level,” Hoot said.
“We will be rolling out the provision of the registry services at the provincial level.
“As time progresses, we will work closely with the administration to see how we can further cascade that down to district level and the local level governments (LLGs) so that people do not need to fly to Port Moresby to register an entity.
“This service should be provided at the province, district and LLG level.”
Hoot said IPA would provide training for the provincial administration through their commerce officers.
Hoot said a team from IPA would travel to Northern to provide training on the services, entity types and requirements.
Meanwhile, Magei said the people have organised groupsfor registration.
Magei said compliance was one of the issues and hoped the MoU would help the people to understand and comply with IPA regulations.