Chinese business investors depart autonomous region

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Wednesday, June 8th 2011

By STEPHANIE ELIZAH
A TEAM of Chinese investors will leave Buka today after spending two days in Bougainville to market their investment plans.
Their visit was a follow-up of a similar trip to China eight months ago by a Bougainville delegation of businessmen led by ABG President John Momis.
During the visit to China, seven agreements were signed between the ABG and the Chinese chamber of commerce inviting investors to Bougainville.
The Chinese investors, led by special investment agent Jason Fong, yesterday presented to members of the Bougainville Business Association and Bougainville government a proposal for the establishment of a special economic zone (SEZ) for Kokopau and Buka.
Fong said the SEZ would mainly involve cocoa, estimated to net an annual revenue of K1.5 billion for Bougainville.
This analysis would provide Bougainville with a gross domestic product of K3.85 billion from a potential production of 200,000 tonnes of cocoa, targeting 6% of global demand and marketed mainly to China.
Requirements from the proposal included the transfer of a 99-year lease to Gang Xin Zhao Fang (PNG) Co Ltd free of charge; minimum of five and maximum of 10 years tax holiday for industry developers and global merchants; and a request for special economic zone laws to be passed to protect investors.
The proposal highlighted issues the Bougainville government needed to address, which included ABG defining and passing a SEZ policy covering the Bougainville land use policy, public and private investment and tax concessions.