Marape wants more local participation in business

GREATER local participation in business and commerce is the way to go to ensure that resources are harvested and sustained well, says Prime Minister James Marape.
“In the next 10 years we want to bring on board 300,000 to 500,000 local small to medium enterprise (SME) into the SME space,” he said.
“We want to empower our local business men and women so that they engage in these activities.”
Marape told the Asia Pacific Business Forum last week that having local economic participation in the SME sector would create awareness and a platform for sustainable practices.
“We can grow the local SME space so that 10 to 20 per cent of the citizens that are connected to SME can look at sustainable aspects of resource harvesting.”
Marape said PNG was mindful that its natural resources, especially in the mining sector, was not sustainable.