PACER Plus

The PACER Plus free trade agreement commences on 13 December 2020, revolutionising trade across the Pacific (although not Papua New Guinea yet). Additional countries are set to join the agreement in the coming months.

The long-awaited Pacer-Plus Pacific trade agreement is expected to be signed in early June, after the 14 Pacific countries concluded their talks in Brisbane last week. But Papua New Guinea and Fiji have said they will not participate. Business Advantage PNG asked World Trade Organisation negotiator, Edwini Kessie, what PNG is missing out on.

Oil Search and ExxonMobil buy into gas licences in Gulf of Papua, Sir Mick Curtain, founder of Curtain Bros, dies, and trade disagreement with Fiji resolved. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

Officials sent to negotiate with Hides landowners over non-payment of royalties from PNG LNG project, Ok Tedi earns K623 million since March, and PNG Post pays K500,000 in dividends. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

There is a growing call for greater protection of Papua New Guinea industry to respond to allegedly unfair international competition. A number of manufacturers tell Business Advantage PNG that most countries have used protectionism to foster their domestic industries and it is time for PNG to do the same.

The regional PACER Plus trade agreement will not pose a threat to Papua New Guinea’s manufacturing sector, but could rejuvenate it, according to Edwini Kessie, Chief Trade Adviser of the Pacific Island Countries, who spoke with Business Advantage PNG.

Woodside drops takeover bid for Oil Search, coffee pulper machine installed for smallholders in Jiwaka Province, and market conditions force Hides Gas Development Company to cut workforce. Your weekly digest of the latest business news.

For the last six years, officials from 14 member countries of the Pacific Islands Forum have been negotiating with Australia and New Zealand to set up a free trade agreement, known as PACER-Plus. The Pacific’s Chief Trade Adviser on PACER-Plus is Ghanian-born Australian, Dr Edwini Kessie, who tells Business Advantage PNG that labour mobility and the future of development assistance are two key stumbling blocks.

Trade Minister Richard Maru has urged Australian and Papua New Guinean business leaders to look seriously at diversifying their areas of investments.

Papua New Guinea is party to a number of advantageous trade agreements that give its exports preferential access to markets all over the world. Here’s a brief summary.