PNG, Aust form talks panel

Business, Normal
Source:

The National – Tuesday, October 18th 2011

PAPUA New Guinea and Australia have agreed to establish a high-level committee that would carry out regular talks for effective business and economic development outcomes.
The committee would comprise representatives from business and government of both countries that is set to meet at more regular intervals than the formal ministerial dialogues already established between the two neighbours.
The proposal for closer dialogues and problem-solving came jointly from the Business Council of Papua New Guinea (BCPNG) and the Australia PNG Business Council (APNGBC), led by its president Peter Taylor.
The joint bodies met in Canberra with foreign ministers Ano Pala and Kevin Rudd during the recent visit to Australia by PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill.
“The councils see this meeting as part of ongoing engagement between business and government extending beyond today’s meeting,” Taylor, who is also chairman of the Bougainville Copper Ltd (BCL), said.
“To achieve the most effective outcomes, we believe we need continuous engagement between us during the periods between the formal meetings,” Taylor said.
“We welcomed the agreement by ministers to our proposal for the immediate establishment of a bilateral committee of business and senior officials to meet regularly to create effective outcomes to business and economic development issues.”
“Among many positive discussion points, we talked about sovereign wealth funds to conserve and build PNG’s mineral revenues, capacity building in the Royal Papua New Guinea Police Constabulary and capa­city building in the PNG Lands Department.”
Taylor said that they also lodged a formal submission from businesses to relevant ministers, which covered a range of important topics including the proposed economic relations agreement, ownership of mineral resources in PNG.
Other issues taken up involved immigration, work permits, improved air freight deals between Australia and PNG, third-country workers transiting to and from PNG and economic infrastructure.
Taylor said the council looked forward to working with its business colleagues in PNG and with both governments to advance these and other issues through the bilateral business and officials committee and at future ministerial forums.