Denmark eager to grow business ties

 THE Government of Denmark says it is keen to grow its business relationship with Papua New Guinea.

Danish Ambassador Kaspa Klynge (pictured) said the relation between Denmark and PNG in terms of business had been poor and the Danish Government had shown a commitment to boost ties with more cooperative efforts.

“Denmark is a small country, many kilometres from Papua New Guinea and although we continuously contribute to give more than 0.7 per cent of GDP in development aid, we are focusing on developing trade cooperation with fewer countries.

“The reason why we are here is to decrease the difficult relations between Denmark and Papua New Guinea,” Klynge said.

“What we are doing instead is to look at a different direction where we are trying to increase business to business cooperation and government to government cooperation on the assumption that developing job opportunities and economic growth is in many ways a better development for the country.

“It is a main priority of my government, without any commercial hidden agendas, to basically provide opportunities, to share regulatory frameworks, experiences, for example in creating opportunities for green growth and renewable energy in PNG. And those are areas that have been discussing with the Governor-General and with the Prime Minister and the Minister for Planning in increasing cooperation and providing opportunities to the country.”

Speaking during an event on Tuesday, Klynge said PNG was still an attractive market and there were opportunities available for Danish businesses.

“PNG is not the biggest economy in the world but for those Danish companies that have solutions for challenges faced by the country, this is an opportunity.

“They are companies that are here to really build our competences capabilities and knowledge, making sure that we have a generation of employees in this country that can continue develop lifelong relationships with our companies in Papua New Guinea.”