Finance minister Marape says PNG economy ‘doing well’, European Investment Bank invests in PNG for first time in 21 years and Memorandum of Agreements to be presented for seven copper and gold mines. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

Papua New Guinea’s Finance Minister, James Marape, has highlighted the comments about PNG’s economy in Business Advantage PNG‘s interview with Christian de Guzman, a Senior Analyst in the Sovereign Risk Group for Moody’s in Singapore. ‘There might be a lot of critics who sit in an armchair, or have political agendas, and it is time to stop listening to them and just read the facts,’ he says. ‘Take a look around the global economy and the critics can see for themselves how well Papua New Guinea is doing in the current global economic climate.’

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The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing US$58.4 million (K185 million) to replace 27 obsolete bridges. It will be the EIB’s first project in PNG for 21 years. The project will be undertaken in co-operation with the PNG Government and the Asian Development Bank.

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Mining Minister, Byron Chan

Memorandum of Agreements (MOAs) for seven gold and copper mines in Papua New Guinea will be presented to Mining Minister Byron Chan to be tabled to the National Executive Council, according to the Post Courier. It is reported that the MOAs are for mines in: Hidden Valley in Morobe province, Woodlark in Milne Bay Province, Ok Tedi in Western Province, Sinivit in East New Britain, Simberi in New Ireland, Solwara 1 in the Bismarck Sea and Tolukuma in the Central Province.

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PNG’s two mobile phone operators, bmobile Vodafone and Digicel have less than a month to ensure their subscriber information data base is fully established and operational, according to the Post Courier. The government is making subscriber information registration mandatory. The three-month grace period will lapse on July 23, it is reported.

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Port Moresby could become home to a state-of-the-art ornamental marine fish processing facility, supplied by a co-operative of professionally trained village collectors in coastal regions of the country, according to the Post Courier. It is reported that the National Fisheries Authority is considering an offer by an overseas consortium to mentor and advise on equipping an internationally approved processing facility.

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A report by the UNDP‘s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility REDD+ Readiness project with the Climate Change Development Authority (CCDA) has looked at ways to strengthen production of key agricultural commodities while also ensuring preservation of PNG’s valuable forests. The report recommends a national policy for sustainable palm oil expansion and establishing a multi-stakeholder palm oil platform to strengthen coordination in the sector.

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Papua New Guinea’s parliamentary opposition has given notice of another motion of no-confidence against the Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, according to RNZ. It’s the fourth such motion which the opposition has tried to move this year, although the speaker has previously disqualified the motions on technical grounds.

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The Kumul, the second PNG LNG Project custom-built ship, safely completed loading its first LNG cargo at the PNG LNG marine facilities, according to Exxon Mobil. The Spirit of Hela has celebrated its 200th load.

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And finally, the Chairman of the board of SME Corporation, Michael Mell, has refuted claims by the National Research Institute that the recently launched SME Policy was not healthy for foreign investment, according to The National. ‘If the director of our national think-tank had actually read the SME policy, he would have realised that there are parameters within which certain areas of the policy would be implemented,’ Mell is reported to have said. ‘The SME policy’s focus is on protecting cottage industries and small businesses for our grass roots people—and this is contained in the Reserve Activity Listing of the policy.’