Papua New Guinea’s enormous and
largely untapped natural resources offer excellent investment
opportunities.
Coupled with the Government’s positive
attitude to foreign investment through the granting of incentives and
concessions, and the recognition of the private sector’s important
contribution to the economic growth, it is clear why many international
companies have invested in Papua New Guinea.
Investment Priorities
The Government places a high priority on
the development of mining and petroleum projects even though this sector
is relatively well-developed. There are huge opportunities for investors
to establish businesses to provide support for the growing number of such
large-scale projects.
Some of the priority economic sectors
offering investment projects with good potential for investors include:
The Investment Promotion Authority (IPA)
has a growing database of local investment opportunities and business
proposals which are suitable for foreign investment.
The IPA packages investment proposals
for investors who identify markets and demonstrate a capacity to invest.
It is an excellent service for investors who have recognised the potential
of Papua New Guinea, but whose plans are still in the development stages.
The IPA’s packaging covers all aspects
of investment, including the detailing of incentives, land identification
and availability, possible changes to rules or regulations in cases where
they have an effect of hindering investment in an unreasonable way,
sourcing of raw materials, detailing of associated investment
opportunities which may develop alongside the main project, and so on.
The IPA has, with the help of
consultants, also developed four resource manuals covering the areas of
Agriculture and Livestock, Forestry, Fisheries and Manufacturing. The
manuals are part of IPA’s drive to attract investment and trade related
opportunties into Papua New Guinea.They are intended as information
sources for both foreign and local investors to enable them make informed
decisions on business proposals/projects in these four sectors.
Currently, most of the market
requirements in Papua New Guinea are satisfied by imports. As the economy
expands in concert with the large resource projects, so does the number of
opportunities.
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