The Minister for International Trade and Investment, Hon. Richard Maru, today, confirmed that the Prime Minister, Hon. James Marape, is set to officially launch the Papua New Guinea Special Economic Zone Foundation Policy (2025- 2032) on Sunday evening of June 15, 2025, at the APEC Haus in Port Moresby.
“I want to thank all the sponsors of the inaugural Papua New Guinea (PNG) Special Economic Zone (SEZ) Summit that was hosted in 2023, and all Departments and Agencies and everyone who cooperated in providing input to this very important foundation policy. This is the first time that PNG will have a foundation SEZ policy. The launch of this policy will result in the current SEZ Act of 2019 being repealed and a new Act will be enacted to reflect the changes in the foundation policy,” said Minister Maru.
“This is a very important policy. Provinces, districts and businesses who wish to be involved in SEZs need to get the copy of the Policy to know the processes on how to establish SEZs and apply for SEZ licenses,” Minister Maru alluded.
Minister Maru said at this stage, PNG was set to establish up to seven new SEZs this year.
“Apart from the Paga Hill SEZ that has already been licensed, the Government has recently approved three SEZs including the Sea Park SEZ, Finschhafen Integrated SEZ and the Central Province Industrial Park, and we are expecting to announce a few more over the next month. This is a very exciting year for our country with more interests coming from investors from within the country and outside the country to establish their businesses within the SEZs,” said Minister Maru.
“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. SEZs will be the key driver of sustainable long-term economic growth in the country.”
“Invitations have gone out to our leaders, Department and Agencies, the private sector and the provinces and I look forward to having them all come together to be part of the launch of our PNG SEZ Foundation Policy on Sunday,” added Minister Maru.
