Trade ministers to meet

AFTER 50 years of diplomatic relationship between Papua New Guinea and the Philippines, their respective Trade Ministers have agreed to have the first trade committee meeting in June.
International Trade and Investment Minister Richard Maru said in terms of bilateral trade, PNG in 2022 exported US$132 million (about K498 million) to the Philippines, while the Philippines exported $20.5 million (about K77.3 million) to PNG.
He met with the Philippines’ Secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry Alfredo Espinosa Pascual in Manila last week.
“The agenda for the meeting will include negotiating and signing a very comprehensive trade and investment partnership agreement at the earliest opportunity, including developing and signing a free trade agreement between our two countries,” he said.
“This critical agreement will provide the political will on both sides to progress initiatives to strengthen and deepen the trade and investment relationship between our two countries.
“Trade is in our favour.
“They have a big market with 120 million people to feed, and have been enquiring about buying rice from PNG.
“They also need energy and have enquired about buying LNG gas from PNG.
“We also have attractive investment opportunities for them like investing in our mining and petroleum industry, agriculture, fisheries, energy, tourism and hospitality, health, skills training.
“We can also learn from the lessons they have learnt from their development challenges and experiences coming from the same background as ours.”
He said there were more than 37,000 Filipinos living in PNG.
He added that the Philippines like PNG was a majority Christian country.