PNGFA to raise standards

AUSTRALIA can help Papua New Guinea improve standards in order for its forest products to have access to markets in Australia, according to PNG Forest Authority (PNGFA).
PNGFA managing director John Mosoro said this following the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between PNGFA and Australia’s department of agriculture, fisheries and forestry at a recent ministerial forum in Canberra.
“We had a good negotiation with our counterparts,” he said.
Mosoro said they asked Australia to upgrade the Forest Research Institute in Lae, Morobe, to become a regional forest research institute.
He said along with the infrastructural development would be an upgrade in expertise with local researchers with doctorates and PhDs on attachment in Australia to join the institute.
He said downstream processing was also discussed as well as having access to markets in Australia and meeting international standards. “We also discussed our shared values for cooperative work on carbon trading,” he said.
“We put to them that PNG, especially the PNGFA, will look at its carbon stock to launch its own platform which they agreed to support us on.”
Mosoro was speaking at the launching of PNGFA’s new website in Port Moresby on Thursday.
He told the staff that information and communication technology (ICT) was the “backbone” of any modern organisation.
“If you don’t have ICT, you are going back 10 years. People have moved on,” he said.
“In some institutions, you will see that ICT is the priority and an important part of any organisation in this modern world.
“We have struggled a bit in getting the ICT infrastructure set up.”