Special economic zones will attract direct foreign investment: Minister

THE Special Economic Zone concept is good for foreign direct investment, says Foreign Affairs and International Trade Minister Soroi Eoe.
He said during a department meeting in Port Moresby on Friday that the concept should be encouraged in the country in line with the SEZ Act. “We talk about high unemployment, students being pushed out every year out onto the streets. What are we doing?” he said.
“That is the reason the Government has been looking at SMEs and agriculture projects, Connect PNG.
“All are towards the creation of jobs for our people.” He said the SEZ had come into play in the 2019 legislation “which is driven by what I have been doing at the Ihu Special Economic Zone”.
“We have four to five new SEZ projects coming up – concepts that invite direct foreign investment,” he said. “So in terms of creating employment, technology transfer, encouraging start-ups, SMEs, we need to encourage investment in SMEs.”
He said the classic example was China.
“China was the first to try the special economic zone concept.
“It has over 200 SEZ employing up to 60 million people,” he said.
“They invited the Americans and English to come and develop their companies in China.
“They silently put their engineers to watch and learn. Ten years later they said okay you can go.”