Business Advantage Papua New Guinea
The hosting of the annual APEC Economic Leaders’ meeting in Port Moresby has firmly put the country on the map.
Papua New Guinea’s hosting of APEC has given the country an enhanced international presence, with some important commitments coming from other regional economies..
Papua New Guinea hosted the Asia-pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in 2018, which was the country’s largest ever event.
Justin Tkatchenko, Minister for APEC, believes it has improved PNG’S international profile.
‘We have proved all our critics wrong and have successfully hosted one of the biggest events of our history. We have now put Papua New Guinea on the map, like never before.’
The Director General of the APEC PNG 2018 Coordinating Authority, Sir Charles Lepani, says the event went well despite PNG being a small economy with limited resources. ‘I was impressed with the commitment demonstrated by our government leaders and officials, and the way they responded to meet the challenges of organising such a major event. Above all, the stunning APEC Haus will remain for me, personally— and many others I imagine—the enduring iconic legacy.’
PNG’S APEC Ambassador Ivan Pomaleu claims the country achieved all of its goals in spite of the lack of a consensus within the group of 21 nations.
‘PNG was trying to referee a couple of big boys in the room—that was interesting. I like to think that, in a roundabout way, we helped with the discussions. Were we successful? PNG initiated a number of key projects for 2018. We hosted and supported our deliverables. We achieved 100 per cent of what we set out to achieve.’
Lessons
Pomaleu believes there were some key lessons from the APEC experience. ‘Prepare well, get plenty of practice, build capacity, stick to a core number of ideas and deliver those well. Keep a good
balance between local issues and ongoing issues relevant to bigger economies.
‘Good outcomes are those which are relevant to the different levels of stakeholders, especially those at the lower end. And be creative.’
Pomaleu says the key challenges tend to be the same for each APEC economy; the only difference is in scale.
‘Geopolitical issues between large economies continue to prevail, which will affect discussions within APEC. APEC PNG 2018 reminded APEC that we need to restate our fundamental principles in the context of prevailing, as well as emerging, challenges.’
Commitments
David Toua, Chairman of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) claims that the summit was ‘successful and incident free’ arguing that it marked a ‘sharp turn’ in PNG’S international profile.
‘It was quite a meeting and it is with great regret from a PNG perspective that the (final) declaration didn’t materialize. But when you talk about the outcomes of the program, we received many commitments from our friends in APEC from the other 20 economies.’
Toua points to the Papua New Guinea Electrification Partnership and ‘offers of educational assistance’ from China and Australia.
‘We have received assistance and commitments from New Zealand in the area of health—specifically polio vaccination. The Philippines have come forward and offered financial capacity to build the rice industry.’
Toua adds that the meeting enhanced members’ understanding of the major role that APEC plays in the region’s architecture.
‘Was APEC successful? You bet it was.’
ABAC recommended continuing support of the international trading system and continuing with multilateral efforts to modernise the World Trade Organization to ‘keep pace with modern business needs.’
A second recommendation was to urge engagement with civil society to explain the benefits of trade liberalization and its role in creating income growth for lower and middle economic groups.
Another recommendation was to ‘fully leverage the digital age for enhanced opportunities for all.’
Toua says ABAC advocated moving towards a low carbon society.
‘What was particularly pleasing was the value placed by industry leaders on messages and policies of the PNG Government.’
WE ACHIEVED 100 PER CENT OF WHAT WE SET OUT TO ACHIEVE. Ivan Pomaleu