Papua New Guinea must stop crafting “a rulebook for every project” and instead focus on building reliable, trade-enabling infrastructure to underpin a strong and inclusive economy, said Chey Scovell, Vice President of the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry (POMCCI).
Speaking at a POMCCI-hosted breakfast forum on Thursday, 3 July, at the Royal Papua Yacht Club, Scovell delivered the keynote address during a panel discussion themed: “Trade, Tariffs and Trumpets – NTBs, WTO and WTF: (Re)positioning PNG.” He was joined by Frazer Murray of the National Trade Office and Paul Barker of the Institute of National Affairs.
In an exclusive interview with PNG Business News following the event, Scovell offered a frank assessment of PNG’s current trade environment, raising concerns about inconsistent policies, infrastructure gaps and the unsustainable use of Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
“The overarching problem for PNG is that the rulebook for Papua New Guinea is not conducive for trade and investment,” Scovell said.
“We had nearly 100 people here today, and nobody could identify a single investment of any significance that could happen in PNG without having their own rulebook,” he stressed.
A promise or pitfall?
While acknowledging that SEZs could be attractive to investors by offering benefits such as stable power, reduced security costs and tax breaks, Scovell warned that making too much of the economy dependent on these zones was unrealistic and inequitable.
“It is not really realistic to have the whole country as a tax-free zone. The government needs revenue,” he said. “My concern is, what about everybody outside of that zone?”
Rather than isolating incentives to certain areas, he argued, PNG should focus on creating a national environment where micro-enterprises and major investors alike can thrive under a consistent and fair framework “without needing special exemptions.”
From policy to practicality
Shifting from policy debates to practical needs, Scovell emphasised the importance of foundational infrastructure – such as roads, ports, electricity, water and ICT – as essential enablers of trade and economic activity.
“We are spending billions on PNG Connect, and it’s kind of a starting point, but it’s very important to make sure that that infrastructure is targeting everyone, from a farmer to the market,” he said.
Without such basics, he argued, promising industries—such as cocoa processing and chocolate manufacturing—will struggle to scale or export products competitively.
Asked about addressing non-tariff barriers (NTBs), Scovell stressed the need for strategically located facilities to meet international sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) standards, particularly for agricultural exports.
“We do not have wholesale buying and co-ops where farmers can bring produce to a facility and have it sorted, graded, and treated,” he explained. “We really need facilities like that in key strategic locations.”
These, he said, would allow PNG to meet foreign SPS requirements while maintaining robust domestic biosecurity, something brought into sharp focus by recent poultry shortages following temporary import bans due to disease outbreaks in Australia and New Zealand.
“Poultry farming in PNG is a really important thing, particularly in the subsistence area. Maintaining those biosecurity standards is really important, not just for protecting the industry but also to enable our exports,” the executive said.
Time for realism
Scovell also delivered a direct challenge to economic policymakers and advisers, urging them to root their strategies in facts, not convenient assumptions.
“It’s unimaginable that our Treasury officials and the UN-funded advisors think that the only reason imports declined and prices changed was because the government put a couple of tariffs in 2017 and 2018,” he said.
“The global financial crisis, the pandemic, the geopolitical tensions, our foreign currency shortage… that’s what reduced imports. That is what increased prices, and not only in PNG but around the world.”
He urged leaders to move away from narrow economic narratives and begin aligning trade strategy with PNG’s constitutional goals and directive principles.
The POMCCI breakfast forum underscored that while tariffs and SEZs may have a role to play, PNG’s long-term development depends on consistent legal frameworks and inclusive infrastructure that enables broad-based participation.
“Let’s get a rulebook that’s conducive for all sorts of activity,” Scovell said.
