Papua New Guinea’s Mineral Resources Development Company is one of the country’s largest institutional investors, with more than K12 billion in assets under management. Its Chief Investment Officer and Deputy CEO John Tuaim revealed five areas where more investment is needed at this month’s 2025 Business Advantage PNG Investment Conference.

MRDC’s John Tuaim, speaking at the 2025 Business Advantage PNG Investment Conference. Credit: BAI/Stefan Daniljchenko

1. Education and technical skills

Tuaim said investments into education needed to be “targeted” to capture skills gaps in PNG’s young workforce.

“If all of us can work together and put our money into building competent, technical people in PNG…There’s a space [in which], going forward, everyone can play a part,” he said.

“The demand for tourism and hospitality is going to grow in the next couple of years”

Moreover, Tuaim said that investments in local labour and technical skills would align with Papua New Guinea’s wider vision of increasing manufacturing and downstream processing locally to reduce raw exports.

2. Hospitality and retail

With PNG’s team due to commence playing in Australia’s National Rugby League in 2028, Tuaim said it was time to invest in PNG’s hospitality industry – particularly in branded hotels to entice international visitors.

“The demand for tourism and hospitality is going to grow in the next couple of years,” he said.

“We’ve only got three branded hotels in Port Moresby. We need more branded [hotels] because we need more competition in the hospitality sector.”

This focus on branded properties also extends into PNG’s retail space, Tuaim said. For example, he noted that MRDC’s flagship Star Mountain Plaza, which includes the Hilton Port Moresby Hotel and Residences – is expanding to include fast food chains KFC and McDonalds as well as other recognisable international brands.

3. Agriculture

As PNG looks to reduce its reliance on imports, Tuaim flagged agriculture as a sector to watch.

“We can replace imports, but we also [have] 10 million people that have to eat,” he said.

Tuaim also highlighted the growth of cash crops, including cocoa and coffee, emphasising the potential return on investment for providing key agricultural knowledge to PNG.

“We’ve got land. We just need people to come in and help Papua New Guineans to develop and build these things.”

4. Mining & petroleum

MRDC last year took up a 50 per cent stake in Twinza’s Pasca A offshore gas project through its Hevehe Petroleum subsidiary and has a legislated mandate to invest on behalf of landowner groups across the country that host resources projects .

The pipeline of major mining and oil and gas projects waiting to be developed represent a massive opportunity, as long as PNG embraces it effectively, according to Tuaim.

“This goes both to the government and to the investors and everybody: we just need to look at where we’ve gone wrong and try and do better,” he said.

Tuaim also emphasised the benefits of exploration activity, noting that “PNG is under explored – there’s still a lot out there waiting to be discovered.”

He continued: “I think the exploration activity in PNG, in both mining and petroleum, is actually going down. What about, the next 20 years, 30 years, after all this project that we keep talking about today? What of the future? The future depends on exploration today.”

5. Energy and artificial intelligence

PNG’s rapid digitalisation will come with massive energy demand, representing a great opportunity to move into renewable energy, Tuaim said.

“We can go clean. AI will depend on data, on storage facilities, data centres…[which] also require high energy,” he said.

“We’ve got lots of sunshine, lots of hydro, lots of wind. All of this we can use.”