AusAID to work closely with firms

 By MALUM NALU

AUSAID is looking to work more closely with the business community in Papua New Guinea to deliver services to the people, according to its deputy director-general, James Batley.

He said this after a roundtable meeting with members of the business community and private sector during his recent visit to the country.

“The reason we did this was that the Australian government has said to AusAID that it wants the aid programme to be more engaged with the private sector to understand about how the business sector contributes to development,” Batley told The National.

“It was also to look at ways in which we can work with the private sector to help development, and to reduce poverty in the country.

“There was representation from some of the main business associations like Manufacturers’ Council, chambers of commerce, Australia-PNG Business Council, big employers, big resource companies, and also some very small businesses.

“I guess it really was a preliminary discussion about what are the ways, what are the points of contact between the aid programme and the business community.”

Batley said AusAID was already working closely with some of the big companies operating in Papua New Guinea.

“For instance, we’ve got an agreement with the Oil Search Foundation, which is setting up work to do with maternal and child health,” he said.

“We’re providing funding through the foundation.

“We also had discussions with Barrick Gold and the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary (RPNGC) about setting up a unit to deal with family and sexual violence.

“We’ve supported the RPNGC in that area for some time.

“We think that now that Barrick Gold is also coming into the programme and supporting the RPNGC, that works very well.”

Batley said AusAID was also looking at breaking into ICT, particularly the areas of mobile banking and Internet.

“One of the ways is that we can use mobile banking in AusAID’s work to get services to the people,” he said.

“Equally, that could apply to the government, as it’s not just necessarily relevant to AusAID.

“Clearly, the Internet and mobile phones have had a major impact in people’s lives, not only in PNG but right around the world.

“There are ways, examples in many parts of the world, of how people can harness these technologies.

“We want to look more closely at that area in PNG as well.

“It’s a country where communication has traditionally been an issue.

“There isn’t a road network connecting all the major centres, flying around the country is really expensive, so maybe there are some real economies of scale in mobile phone technologies that can help ordinary citizens of this country.”