US team in country for trade talks

The National Business

By PETER ESILA
PAPUA New Guinea can increase exports to the United States to feed its retail industry, says Minister for Commerce and Industry Wera Mori.
A team from the US Generalised System of Preferences (GPS) is in the country for talks to improve trade between the two countries, especially in non-tariff products.
GPS is a US government arrangement that enables market accessibility into US.
Mori, when welcoming the team yesterday, said PNG looked up to the US.
“Since independence, we are more dependent on the extractive industries, mainly the non-renewable resources,” he said.
“This is especially in mining and then we have the development of oil and recently gas.
“We are now shifting away from the narrow corridor of the non-renewable extractive industries and into renewable resources.”
Mori said the programme would be of great assistance to help PNG build its economy.
“We want to be able to manufacture,” he said.
“PNG kina is weak.
“It is in depreciation against the US dollar.
“We now are finding that we may be the source of cheap labour that US might want to look at.
“We want to be the avenue for American companies to come and manufacture here.”
US Ambassador Catherine Ebert-Gray says there were a lot of product with no tariffs there.
“There is no tariff on agricultural products, tropical products.”
“There is a lot of potential.
“That is why your coffee is a huge export to the United States.”
Ebert-Gray said GPS would look at other products to reduce tariffs including flowers, agriculture, fish, bilum, arts and crafts and spices.
Edward Gresser, assistant US trade representative trade policy and economies, who came with the GPS, said that in the US, they wanted things that were important to them.
“They are interested in quality, how much time it will take to arrive, volume and the price which includes the tariff payment,” he said.
“GSP is the US government’s largest and oldest trade preference programme, meaning tariff exemptions for developing countries, created in 1974 and providing advice to 120 countries worldwide including PNG.”