Welcome to the 14 than nu al edition of Business advantage papua new guinea.

Business Advantage has been reporting on Papua New Guinea’s economy since 2006: both in this annual guide and, since 2013, through PNG’S top-ranked business media, businessadvantagepng.com. We also host the annual Papua New Guinea Investment Conference, which in 2019 will be held at the Shangri-la Hotel, Sydney, Australia on 19 and 20 August. (Consider yourself invited.)

PNG’S story since 2006 has been one of major economic growth and progress: the massive PNG LNG gas project (now finally delivering revenues into government coffers), significant infrastructure development in the form of new ports and upgraded airports; an explosion in the use of mobile phones, a housing boom, an emergent middle class, an inaugural sovereign bond, and the hosting of APEC 2018.

With its youthful population, major mineral resources, location in the world’s largest fishery, pristine environment, fertile soils and very conducive climate, PNG has a great story to tell.

As with any emerging market, there have been challenges as it has entered more fully into the world economy. These include foreign currency shortages, frustrations with inadequate infrastructure, an over-exposure to the boom/bust cycles of the resources sector, as well as natural disasters such as the February 2018 earthquake in the country’s Highlands region.

But businesses in PNG have proven time and again that it pays (and pays well) to take a long-term view of such impediments. As we enter 2019, they are looking forward to a year full of opportunity, as this publication shows.

There is no better way of learning about a country’s business environment than hearing from the people who have to live in it every day. It is their perspectives that you will read in these pages, provided through our team of experienced business journalists.

We do not claim to be experts on PNG but we talk regularly to the people who are: from PNG’S Prime Minister to the Governor of the central bank, to dozens of senior business leaders from across all sectors of the economy.

This is why our reporting on PNG business is widely shared and syndicated—by business chambers and media outlets, in Air Niugini’s in-flight magazine, on social media, by hand, in diplomatic missions, and by word-ofmouth

If you have not already, I strongly suggest you sign up at businessadvantagepng.com to receive our free email newsletter, which goes out regularly to a global audience of Png-focused executives.

They are a group that grows larger every year, as PNG finally takes its place as a key Asia-pacific economy.