Photo: Zed Seselja
Senator Zed Seselja, Australia's minister for international development and the Pacific, said the Australian government will continue to engage with Papua New Guinea to reopen borders and normalize commerce and trade.
Seselja addressed the 2021 PNG Mining and Petroleum Conference and Exhibition yesterday that the government has received about AU$340 million (about K854 million) in Coronavirus (Covid-19) support.
He said that the Covid-19 had a huge impact on companies, and that Australia had cooperated with Air Niugini, the country's official carrier, to ensure that commercial flights to Australia were not disrupted.
“We also recognise the importance of fly-in-fly-out workers in the mining and petroleum sectors,” he said. “So we have worked closely with businesses and state governments in Australia to support travel exemptions arrangements for these workers.
“Likewise we have assisted the PNG Government in pre-departure flight tests at Jackson international airport in Port Moresby.
“Since Nov 1, Australia has been gradually relaxing its border restrictions under a risk based approach to reopening.” Seselja said Australia’s support had also been buffering the economy through loans and grants to help mitigate the worst economic impacts of the pandemic.
“We have been encouraged by progress on some major resource project negotiations this year. Namely the Papua LNG and Pnyang (gas agreements).
“Getting these negotiations over the line will improve economic certainty and over the construction phase, stimulate urgently needed investment.
“We know that business requires a predictable operating environment, certainty around mining, oil and gas legislations will encourage investment in PNG.”
Seselja emphasized the importance of continued negotiations between industry and government on new tax and regulatory policies.
Reference: Luma, Dale. The National (2 December 2021). “Aust To Ensure Trade Continues”.
