Make use of local facilities: Marape

Business
Traditional dancers welcoming Prime Minister James Marape, State Enterprises Minister Sasindran Muthuvel, government officials and other invited guests for the cocktail function hosted by joint venture partners of the Loloata Private Island Resort last Thursday.
From left: Nasfund chief executive officer Ian Tarutia chatting with chairman Charles Vee, Rachael Marape and Prime Minister James Marape.

PRIME Minister James Marape is urging the business community and government departments to host meetings locally instead of going offshore.
Speaking at the opening of the redeveloped K130 million Loloata Private Island Resort in Port Moresby recently, Marape said the nation’s capital had world class facilities to host meetings.
“Don’t take your meetings offshore. As much as possible, keep all your meetings on shore,” he said.
“We have world class hotels like Hilton, Stanley, Grand Papua, Airways and others that follow suit in Port Moresby.
“This one (Loloata) just adds to the feature of what Port Moresby and the National Capital District (NCD) can give.” Marape also encouraged local institutions and super funds such as National Superannuation Fund (Nasfund), Nambawan Super Ltd as well as other local landowner companies to continue to reinvest in the local economy.
“PNG is in the middle of the Asia-Pacific, Australia and New Zealand region.
“There’s a movement annually of over 200 million tourists in the region, all within eight hours of flight to Port Moresby. So we want to capture those tourism opportunities,” Marape said.
“I look forward down the line in our country, where our economic base has expanded and diversified and there is no better place to invest than in tourism, hospitality and sports.
“I believe that our potential lies in agriculture, tourism, sustainable forestry and sustainable harvest of our marine resources.
“So we are trying to shift focus of our government into these spaces.”
The Loloata Private Island Resort is a tripartite investment arrangement between Nasfund, Lamana Development group and the Solomon Islands National Provident Fund (NPF).
It commenced operations on Aug 23 and currently offers 22 rooms.
Nasfund, which has a 50 per cent stake in Loloata, has a membership base of more than 600,000 contributors, and net assets worth over K5 billion.

The overlook of the redeveloped Loloata Private Island Resort outside Port Moresby which was officially opened last Thursday.