The Marape-Rosso Government is committed to creating a more attractive business environment through investments in ease of doing business interventions by the Government and key Government Agencies, says the Minister for International Trade and Investment, Hon. Richard Maru.
Minister Maru made this statement this morning in his keynote address to the members of the Government Agencies and the private sector who gathered in Lae, Morobe Province, for the 8th Customs Business Consultative Forum under the theme, “Customs Delivering on its Commitment to Efficiency, Security and Prosperity”, hosted by the PNG Customs Service.
Minister Maru said: “We all know that PNG is not an attractive place to do business right now compared to our competitors and I am very much aware of that. As the Minister responsible for international trade and investment, I want to thank all our Government Agencies and our private sector for hanging in there despite all the challenges that we are facing as a country including highest unemployment, highest law-and-order problems, serious foreign currency issues, national debt of over K60 billion, and depreciating Kina value which have made it very difficult especially for our private sector. Our biggest problem in the last 50 years has been this: We have failed to build a strong and robust economy like other countries. After 50 years, PNG’s GDP sits at about US$ 30 billion, Japan’s GDP is over US$ 4 trillion, New Zealand’s GDP is over US$ 252 billion, Singapore’s GDP is over US$ 501 billion, and the Philippines’ GDP is about US$ 437 billion. These countries are one-third our size, except Singapore, and are not endowed with natural resources like our country and yet on average their economy are ten times bigger than ours.”
Minister Maru added: “The exciting thing is, it is not all doom and gloom, because we have seven new resource projects coming up including Papua LNG, Pasca Gas, P’nyang Gas Project, Wafi-Golpu Mine, Freda Mine, Wildebeest and Namabarope. These resource projects will underpin the economy going forward. To create the 1 million jobs as stipulated in our Medium-Term Development Plan 4, we must change our policies, we must downstream process all our resources, we must compete with the rest of the world to bring in foreign direct investments, and the best way to do it is to develop Special Economic Zones (SEZs) as the main driver of future economy growth. SEZs will be very critical. If a country like the Philippines, which is a one-third our size, can have over 420 SEZs driving their economic growth at the rate of 5% per annum, generating over US$63 billion in export income, and creating over 4 million jobs, we can do it too.”
Minister Maru further added: “Our over reliance on the mining and petroleum sector has been our biggest mistake since Independence. While we have seven resource projects in the pipeline for the next ten years, this sector will not be our future. Our future will be downstream processing of all our logs and fisheries resources, manufacturing of all our raw materials in country, and replacing imports like rice. This is the future. We now have the Paga Hill SEZ which has already been licensed, and we will have others licensed this year including the Sepik Plains SEZ, Madang Integrated SEZ, Finschhafen Integrated SEZ, Used Lead-Acid Battery recycling plant SEZ in Central Province, Sea Park SEZ, and the Central Province Industrial Park.”
Minister Maru said the opportunities were extremely bright in the next few years but PNG should improve its ease of doing business and not continue to use old manual systems of facilitating trade processes.
“According to the latest World Bank Ease of Doing Business Index, PNG was ranked 120 out of the 190 economies in 2023. The low ranking signifies and attests the stark reality of the inefficient and ineffective trade processes and system of PNG resulting in high cost of trade. The anticipated growth in the economy from trade and investment has not been realized owing to dysfunctional trade processes and systems that are fraught with delays and increased cost of trade as traders contend with the challenges of meeting multiple regulatory requirements from multiple locations. The Marape Government wants to improve our business process to compete with the rest of the world using technology rather than our manual systems. We have decided this year that we will commence the acquisition process to acquiree an electronic Single Window System. Our Government will invest K20 million to acquire and implement this system to increase efficiency and to make us competitive. Work starts this year and PNG Customs Services will be the lead agency,” said Minister Maru.
The electronic Single Window System is a trade facilitation concept which allows an international (cross border) trader to submit required trade information to a single agency using a web-based digital automated portal, rather than having to deal with multiple agencies in multiple locations to obtain necessary papers, permits, and clearance to complete import or export processes, resulting in reduced cost of trade. The pursuit of the concept of electronic Single Window System is to promote a seamless flow of trade, through the automation of trade processes using an electronic online platform for processing Customs declarations, obtaining permits, licenses, and approvals through an electronic online platform.
“The key objective is to automate the trade processes and use an online platform to improve release times with a seamless flow of goods in trade. This will result in increased compliance, increased economic activities, enhanced economic growth through increased international trade, reduce the cost of doing business, improvement in the ease of doing business, increase revenue collections, and effective and collaborative border management,” explained Minister Maru.
“We need everyone to come on board and co-operate so we will have one system to facilitate trade. The Marape-Rosso Government is determined and as the Minister responsible for international trade and investment, I am determined, and I need the support of everyone, including all Government Agencies and the private sector,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru also informed the participants of the forum on the review of tariffs and the need to protect the manufacturing sector, and the need to bring in a new anti-dumping legislation to protect the industries from dumping of products from other countries.
“The Government remains committed to fostering a sustainable and diversified economy by reducing dependence on foreign aid, strengthening trade partnerships to create a more competitive business environment, and making PNG an attractive destination for global investors. We are looking at building new trade and investment partnership with Indonesia, Thailand and the United Arab Emirates, and also deepen and strengthen our trade and investment relationship with China and Japan on the back of a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru extended an invitation to all participants at the forum to attend the upcoming launch of the PNG SEZ Foundation Policy on June 16, 2025, and the 2nd PNG SEZ Summit that will be hosted at the Hilton Hotel in Port Moresby from August 31 – September 3, 2025.
