Talks over Pasca A should be made public: Aitsi

THE Government and Twinza Oil Limited negotiating terms of the proposed Pasca A oil and gas project in Gulf should provide a periodic update to keep the public informed on the progress of negotiations, says Transparency International PNG chairman Peter Aitsi.
Petroleum Minister Kerenga Kua told Parliament on Tuesday that a confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement between Twinza and the Government would be prepared for the parties to not divulge information to the media while negotiations were ongoing.
This followed a statement by Twinza this week highlighting their frustration over the changes to the agreement made by the state negotiating team on the Pasca project gas agreement. Kua said the confidentiality and non-disclosure agreement would ensure that a statement would be made only when a final decision was reached.
But Aitsi said a non-disclosure agreement was a commercial document which allowed parties to keep their negotiations to themselves and provide a degree of trust between them.
He said otherwise, they would be “leaking commercially sensitive information”.
“On Twinza, as a publicly-listed company, they have a strict obligation to keep their shareholders and the stock market updated on any transaction or events impacting the company that could have material impact on the share price or performance targets,” Kua said.