Trade policy vital: Secretary

PAPUA New Guinea has missed out on a trade policy in the last 40 years to guide its future trade negotiations and agreements with partners,  according to an official.
Trade, Commerce and Industry Secretary John Andrias said the policy was never given prominence by past governments.
“Trade plays a very important role as it is a function of the State and without a policy, there won’t be any trade in the import and export of goods and services,” Andrias said.
“Problems could arise if there is no policy in place.”
Andrias was speaking during the final day of the draft national trade policy validation workshop last Friday.
He said the draft policy would undergo validation, they anticipate its outcome and gains.
Andrias told participants that included the private sector, civil society and academia that their input was important in validating and fine tuning the draft policy before presenting it to the minister responsible, Richard Maru, who would take it to cabinet for endorsement.
He said they needed to meet the deadline set by the Government to have a final draft for tabling in Parliament when it resumes sitting next month.