Speakers at the 2025 Business Advantage PNG Investment Conference touched on a range of key themes, including the need to strengthen the country’s institutions and its ‘human capacity’, and provided updates on key projects such as PNG Power’s turnaround plan, major resources projects and the strategies of leading banks and financial institutions.

Australian economist Chris Richardson giving the keynote speech at the 2025 Business Advantage PNG Investment Conference. Credit: BAI/Stefan Daniljchenko

The 2025 Business Advantage PNG Investment Conference kicked off on August 11 with speeches from Richard Maru, Minister for International Trade and Investment, and Chris Richardson, one of Australia’s best-known economists.

“As the world has changed to become more volatile and more dangerous, institutions are more valuable than they used to be.”

These two set the tone for the rest of the event, with Maru calling for a “new roadmap” to transform the economy (see full report here) and Richardson discussing the rapidly changing global economic landscape and what it means for PNG.

Institution-building

Richardson gave his key strategies for nations to adopt in the face of increasing global volatility – with building and maintaining strong institutions at the top.

“Rules are often your best friend. And, as the world has changed to become more volatile and more dangerous, institutions are more valuable than they used to be. Why? Because they build and they maintain trust,” Richardson said.

Paulus Ain, Commissioner and CEO of PNG’s Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC), touched on this theme later on day one, noting the Waigani National Court’s recent decision to order major retailer Freedom Apex to pay K750,000 in penalty fees to the ICCC for failing to seek clearance for the acquisition of another entity.

This ruling sets “a precedent,” Ain said, and would remind businesses of the obligation to seek clearance for any transaction exceeding K50 million in value or resulting in more than 50 per cent market share.

Tapping into skills

PNG Power Limited’s Paul Bayly

The need to tap into PNG’s human resources was another central theme of the conference and was at the heart of the turnaround plan presented by new CEO of PNG Power Limited (PPL), Paul Bayly.

Bayly detailed six key priorities of the turnaround, including network opportunities, revenue enhancement, cost control, managing customer service obligations, and improving PPL’s balance sheet.

But he said the top priority was people.

“In any business, you can do a good job with the right people. But if you don’t have the right people, even a good business can turn sour,” Bayly said.

This plan includes decentralising the business (so that managers are based along the regional grids they are responsible for), raising the mandatory retirement age from 60 to 65 to retain experienced staff, and transitioning casual employees into permanent roles.

One change Bayly is proud of is the revival of PPL’s training academy.

“This year, we’ll take 200 cadets through plus 20 graduates. That’s lots of opportunity for young people,” he said.

Similarly, Susil Nelson-Kongoi, President of the Business Council of PNG, also spoke about the need to invest in “human capacity” ahead of the pipeline of major resources projects.

“We’ve got pockets of world-class technical skills. There are also skill sets…especially around project management and managerial supervisory roles [where] capacity has to be filled,” Nelson-Kongoi said. These gaps in skills are also reflected in the disparity between provincial and urban centres, she added.

John Tuaim, Deputy CEO and Chief Investment Officer, Mineral Resources Development Company (MRDC), said investments in skilled labour were key to the country’s ambitious plans to build downstream manufacturing capacity in the natural resources sector.

“We need to build quality technical schools, teach our own people and train them so that then we can go into doing downstream,” he said.

Updates on key projects

Delegates to the two-day conference received updates on key projects across different sectors of the PNG economy.

The new Business Advantage Fiji magazine was launched at a special Fiji session as part of the 2025 Business Advantage PNG Investment Conference. Credit: BAI/Stefan Daniljchenko

These included a full briefing on the turnaround of PNG Power; a vision of the future plans of several leading financial institutions, such as BSP Financial Group and TISA Bank; the investment strategy of key institutional investors in the country, such as Nasfund, MRDC and the Asian Development Bank; and updates on important resources projects, including the Wafi-Golpu copper-gold project and the Pasca A offshore gas project.

In addition to PNG-specific sessions, the conference also provided expert presentations on artificial intelligence by KPMG Australia’s AI lead, Francine Hoo, and a second keynote on how technology is influence investment trends by futurist and impact investor, Lisa Andrews.

The conference also saw the launch of the inaugural Business Advantage Fiji publication, which was marked by a panel discussion featuring Ivan Fong, CEO of Amalgamated Telecom Holdings; Kamal Chetty, Chief Executive Officer, Investment Fiji; and Maikash Ali, General Manager Corporate and Business Banking, BSP Financial Group (Fiji).