Euro investment nearly K3bil 800-plus jobs

By NATHAN WOTI
THE European Union’s (EU) total value of investment recorded from 2012 to 2021 has totalled K2.8 billion which has contributed to creating more than 800 jobs for Papua New Guineans, says an official.
Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) investor servicing and promotion director Daroa Peter said according to their foreign certification records from the period 2012 to 2021, there had been investment of K2,819.25 billion from EU companies creating more than 800 jobs.
He added that a total of 110 companies were registered by EU economies in the last decade with the IPA.
“Since the first ever EU-PNG Trade and Investment conference in 2019, it has promoted trade and investment between the EU, PNG, and other Pacific island countries,” he said.
“For the last few years, the EU has given the opportunity for our PNG and Pacific medium-to-small enterprises (SMEs) to showcase their business ideas and connect with the markets in Europe including other regions.
“Last year, we were able to bring in some of our micro SMEs from our 22 provinces to attend the EU-PNG trade and investment conference.”
“It is pleasing to see how they tell their stories and make connections with partners and industry players.
“We will do our best to promote and attract investments from the EU through our partnership in such programmes and events.
“Our partnership and collaboration with the EU Delegation, EU-PNG Business Council and EU investment partners will be further strengthened through such collaboration.”
Peter added that PNG’s main investing partners in EU were the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Greece and Denmark.
The main sectors of investment these EU member countries invest in were mining and petroleum, construction, transport, wholesale and retail, real estate and forestry.
Peter said the IPA would continue to work with the EU Delegation and EU-PNG Business Council to ensure that more investors from the EU could invest in PNG.
Meanwhile, Peter mentioned that PNG had more opportunities for investment in sustainable sectors especially in agriculture, tourism, fisheries, clean renewable energy.
This includes the carbon trade and hydrogen development apart from oil and gas, mining and forestry.