Chamber to open soon: Maru

THE Papua New Guinea-Hong Kong China Chamber of Commerce is expected to be opened in October, International Trade and Investment Minister Richard Maru says.
Maru said Prime Minister James Marape was expected to formally give the chamber the Government’s official certificate of recognition.
This will mean it will officially represent PNG in Hong Kong.
Maru and chamber chairman Anthony Lai met with executives and members of the chamber to discuss its roles that include trade and investment opportunities for Chinese companies and PNG.
Maru said this would build business-to-business and people-to-people relationships between Hong Kong and PNG.
It will also set the foundation for Special Economic Zone (SEZ) development in PNG through bilateral technological skills transfer schemes.
The chamber was established in 2019 to be an information bank and promoter of PNG in Hong Kong.
Maru urged the executives and the members of the chamber to support the Government and its Chamber of Mines and Petroleum in hosting the inaugural PNG-Asia Investment Conference in Hong Kong in October.
China exports about K1.5 billion worth of goods to PNG annually and PNG export up to K5 billion worth of goods to China every year.
“These figures indicate that China is becoming the most important trading partner for PNG,” Maru said.
Chamber members were concerned that it had been very difficult for them, especially businessmen in Hong Kong and the southern part of China, to get visas to travel to PNG, because Beijing was further up north.
And it was costly for them to travel there and back to access the consular service there.