Kairuku Hiri Netball Association (KHNA), an affiliate of Netball PNG officially kicked Start its 15th Tournament at the Rita Flynn Netball Courts, yesterday. This Association was established by Mrs Loi Vele in 2007. Mrs Vele is also the patron of this Association. Acting President Hoi Isaiah in her opening remarks acknowledged the Major Sponsor Hon. Keith Iduhu, Member for Hiri Koiari and support sponsors Niu Power and Exxon Mobil. President Hoi emphasised unity and true sportsmanship throughout the Tournament. Out of the 17 Associations, 9 Associations attended. MC Garry Tauna introduced the 9 Associations in attendance; Hisiu, Kido, Lealea, Papa, Boera, Porebada, Tubuseria, Barakau, Gaire The 8 Associations who sent in their apology were; Nabua Paka, Koiari, Manumanu, Gorohu, Kouderika, Roku, Dagoda and Rabuka. Also in attendance to witness the opening Ceremony and Day 1 of Games were; NPNG President Ulato Avei, HPM Iammo Launa, SDM Annie Iamo, MCM Kori Toua-Navuru, Board Member, Dianna Kila, Abau Netball Patron, Mrs Thavu Temu and the Media reps. The games will run over 3-days and end on Friday, 25th Nov 2022. The game was officially declared opened by Lynette Maha, EO of Netball PNG and directed by Papua New Guinea Sports Foundation whilst Umpire Allocation is co-ordinated by Eileen Simet. Source: Netball PNG

The National Department of Health with technical support of WHO Papua New Guinea is currently conducting consultation of its draft strategy and guidelines on addressing health impacts of climate change in Papua New Guinea. The workshop has brought Environmental Health Officers from the MOMASE Region to Madang this week, to discuss two important documents for the country: 1. The Draft National Climate Change and Health Strategy and Action Plan (SAP) and 2. Draft Climate Resilient and Environmentally Sustainable Health Care Facility (CRESHCF) Guidelines. This is the third consultation on SAP and second consultation on CRESHCF following provincial consultation in East New Britain, September 2022. As part of this process, we are hoping that health sector take climate actions or vice versa, and that environmental health officers become climate change and health champions by ensuring that their provincial environmental health plans are climate change inclusive. The NDOH Environmental Health Branch is also advocating among respective provincial health authority to align with National Health Plan (NHP) 2020-2030, particularly on implementation of Environmental Health related key result areas. The overarching goal of NHP 2020-2030 is to ‘prevent ill health, identifying and addressing health risks and emerging diseases and providing accessible and affordable quality healthcare for all”. This calls for prevention of illness and diseases. A cost-effective intervention is investing in addressing environmental health related risks that affect basic health of a population such as access to clean and safe drinking water and safe food, etc. Environmental health as a core branch of Public Health focuses its efforts on assuring safe, clean and healthy environment for better health outcomes. Climate change and environment health is everybody’s business. Source: National Department of Health

The two bills introduced by Prime Minister James Marape to return to Government the position of ‘Chief Secretary’ received overwhelming support in Parliament today with all Members from both sides of the House speaking for and none against it. The Prime Minister and National Executive Council (Amendment) Bill 2022 and the accompanying Public Services (Management)(Amendment) Bill 2022 were successfully passed today (231122) restoring the position, which was previously in place but abolished in 2020. In introducing the bills, PM Marape said the need for the post was to ensure Public Service followed directions of Government and that performance was heightened, consistent with given Government Key Result Areas. PM Marape said: “When we took office in 2019, Government caucus then resolved to abolish the Office of Chief Secretary to allow ministers to function with their departmental heads to deliver to our people and our government’s expectations. Sadly, three years on, we realized that there is lack of leadership or no leadership at the Public Service operational level, their performance has dropped no functional alignments and no day-to-day administrative oversight hence accountability of their performance is lacking or has now dropped. We now, through this bill, are restoring the Office of Chief Secretary and all departmental and agency heads are to – whilst reporting to the Minister – also report administratively to the Chief Secretary so we are progressive in as far as Government Key Result Areas are concerned for our national development aspirations.” In the required debate session that ensured, all speakers on both sides of the House spoke in support of this change. Southern Highlands Governor Hon. William Powi said: “I want to commend the Government that this is the right direction for the future of this country. If you look at the implementation of government, Waigani is a swamp, nothing gets moving. You need office of the Chief Secretary and the CACC process to have an oversight in government coordination and implementation. This is a very important business of national interest. Submissions cannot be rushed through to the NEC; they must first go through the buffer process. Ministers are not supposed to take their submissions directly to NEC. This Office will protect the interest of the nation through the CACC process – there are financial implications, implementation implications, Constitutional implications. These must go through this scrutiny. When it reaches NEC, it is the nation’s interest.” Minister for Public Service, Hon. Joe Sungi said: “Right now, we have 121 national agencies and 130,000 public servants on government payroll. With that mammoth task of managing the Public Service, the Office of Chief Secretary is to not only to look after the central agencies and national departments, but also bring in line the performance of the provincial administrators, as most of the implementation and coordination of policies is at the provincial level. Provincial administrators are caught in between because they do not have a clear reporting system. They only submit the Performance Management Report every March to Department of Provincial Affairs (together with several other reports). But on top of that, in terms of performance tracking, we fall way behind. There must be oversight to hold the provincial administrators accountable at the top level.” Member for Pomio, Hon. Elias Kapavore said: “From the Opposition, we would like to commend the Prime Minister for reintroducing the Office of the Chief Secretary to CACC level. I thank the Minister for Public Service for his input. This Office plays a pivotal role to make sure that the bureaucracy is in order. There will be alignment in reporting and the bureaucracy taking the lead in implementing many of the government policies. The annual reports: many of our departmental heads do not comply with the requirements of the Public Service Management Act. We hope that this becomes one of the important KPIs when assessing their performance. Non-compliance is a disciplinary matter that requires termination.” Minister for Petroleum, Hon. Kerenga Kua said: “I am aware that some governors, ministers, MPs and especially departmental heads are sitting in other positions as directors or members of committees of many other companies, statutory authorities, agencies, commissions, etc. That is not a bad thing but it does affect the productivity of the person in charge, on their primary role as the manager of that department. This situation has to be avoided. I want the Minister Public Service to take note of this while we talking about improving the efficiency of the Public Service. I support this bill.” Member for Ialibu-Pangia, Hon. Peter O’Neill said: “I thank the Prime Minister for bringing this particular bill on the Floor. Having a central agency and a Chief Secretary and CACC for that matter is something that can hold the Public Service to account. Chief Secretary’s position is an important position. I think this decision will stabilize the Public Service machinery so that it can continue to be accountable and deliver to the nation. The Public Service is an implementing machinery. It must be stable and accountable. This is a timely intervention especially when we starting a new term of Parliament. That is why I commend the Prime Minister for having the wisdom to bring this position back.”

Day 2 of the Oceania Sevens Challenge kicked off with the remaining women’s pool games being played in order to sort out seeding for the finals. Vanuatu entered day two knowing they had nothing to lose and everything to gain following some heavy losses the day prior, and their first performance against Tonga reflected this mentality. After conceding some early points, the Vanuatuan’s struck back through Hannah Taiwia, resulting in some deafening cheers from the Vanuatuan bench. Unfortunately, despite their best-efforts Vanuatu would go onto to be defeated by Tonga, as well as Papua New Guinea in their final match in the pool stages. Samoa’s first match of the day was against an underrated Cook Islands side looking to cause some upsets before the finals. The Cook Islands came out firing in the early minutes, but just couldn’t crack Samoa’s formidable defensive line, and eventually Samoa was able to counter-attack through Linda Fiafia who raced down the sideline to give Samoa the lead. Ultimately Samoa prevailed over a gutsy Cook Islands side, as well as winning comfortably against the Solomon Islands to close out their pool matches. Day two didn’t go to plan for the Solomon Islands. They were always going to have trouble coming up against Samoa and Papua New Guinea back-to-back to start the day, and to no one’s surprise they were on the receiving end of some huge scores. The Tongans excelled in their last pool matches, putting on some serious clinics against their opponents. Against Vanuatu Fakanonoa Manumua was incredible, facilitating the girls around the park with amazing composure, allowing livewires such as Florence Hakalo to stun those in attendance with her incredible footwork. Vanuatu were able to put up a fight, however Tonga never looked nervous as they cruised to a win over Vanuatu as well as taking care of the Cook Islands to close out their pool matches. Papua New Guinea breezed through their last matches in the pool stage, scoring points at will against Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands. Star player Naomi Kelly was up to her usual standards, demolishing defences with damaging runs. Women's Finals Following the pool stage, each team was seeded according to their results, with two games dictating the final positions, before a thunderstorm washed out the championship final between Samoa and Papua New Guinea. First up were the Solomon Islands taking on Vanuatu. Standout performer Ella Puia opened the Solomon Islands account with an incredible length of the field try. The rest of the match was more of the same from the Solomon Islands, who avoided a last place finished with a win over Vanuatu. Next was an incredible example of free-flowing rugby between Tonga and the Cook Islands. Finding the lead first, Tonga was in the driver’s seat during the first half. However, within the first minute of the second half Tonga conceded a yellow card and try within the same play, leaving the door open for a Cook Islands comeback. Luckily for the Tongans, they were able to hold on long enough to secure a third-place finish, just scraping past the Cook Islands. Unfortunately, the Women’s Sevens Challenge Final between Papua New Guinea and Samoa had to be abandoned due to sever weather. Therefore, in accordance with the Tournament rules, whoever scored the most points over the weekend would be declared the winner. Consequently, Papua New Guinea Womens were declared the winners due to having the most Tournament points during the pools and knock out rounds. The official ranking for the Oceania Rugby Women’s 7s Challenge are as follows: Papua New Guinea Samoa Tonga Cook Islands Solomon Islands Vanuatu As the top ranked team in the Women’s Challenge, Papua New Guinea have qualified to represent Oceania at the 2023 World Rugby Challenger Series. Men’s Finals Day two of the Oceania Sevens Challenge saw the finals of the Men’s competition affected by some turbulent weather washing out the most important games of the day. The Quarter Finals kicked off day two of the Men’s competition, with Niue and Cook Islands taking centre stage first up. Despite plenty of chances, Niue was unable to capitalise on their error-prone opponents and would eventually be unable to compete with the Cook Islands once they managed to hold onto the ball. Next up was a heavyweight bout between Australia A and Papua New Guinea. The Puk Puks were unable to take the lead early, squandering a chance to score from kick off, a mistake which they’d immediately regret as Jordan-Lee Bacon would put the Australians in the lead following a length of the field try. Papua New Guinea would spend the whole game chasing this lead, ultimately falling by three tries to Australia. The third quarter final would see the Solomon Islands dominate a struggling Vanuatuan side. Despite a courageous performance from Johnron Ronneth, Vanuatu could never seem to gain territory consistently, having their plays consistently read by a persistent Solomon Islands defensive unit. Mathew Qwahna of the Solomon Islands was arguably man of the match, scoring an unbelievable try out of nothing in the first half. The last quarter final was no surprise. Tournament heavyweights Tonga had their way with an inexperienced Kiribati side who did their best to prevent a cricket score. After the quarter finals were the semi-finals, which were broken up into two groups. First were the teams in 5th-8th position, followed by those in 1st-4th position. Australia A faced Niue in the first semi-final, which may as well have been a training run for the Australians. They dominated from the first minute to the fourteenth, running up a huge score against a deflated Niue side. Vanuatu and Kiribati were next up, with the Vanuatuan’s easily taking care of the visibly exhausted Kiribatians. Starman Alex Tagavo had a day out, playing at a much higher level than anyone else on the pitch. The third semi-final of the day saw Papua New Guinea play the Cook Islands. The Puk Puks shot themselves in the foot early, conceding an unnecessary yellow card. Despite this, their defence remained as tenacious as ever as they were able scrape a win past a valiant Cook Islands side. A veteran performance from John Ika saw the Tongans march to a convincing win over the Solomon Islands in the fourth semi-final. Ika was able to assist multiple tries for prolific young gun Kyren Taumoefolau, as the Solomon Islands were simply helpless against the might of the Tongan side. Finally, the last games of the Oceania Sevens Challenge were played to dictate the final finishing positions of all eight sides. First up was seventh versus eighth as Niue faced Kiribati. As expected, Niue won comfortably against the minnows, however this doesn’t mean that Kiribati left the field upset. Late in the first half, Tambwereti Arimaere scored a try for Kiribati, their first ever national try which saw everyone in attendance on their feet cheering for the pacific underdogs. A truly historic day for Kiribati, they would still ultimately lose to Niue by some margin, finishing last in the challenege. The final match of the day, Australia A beat Vanuatu in a match which was abandoned halfway due to inclement weather. In accordance with Tournament rules, Australia A was declared the winner due to most tries scored during match leading up to abandonment. The Match between Cook Islands and Solomon Islands was abandoned before commencement. Solomon Islands was declared the winner on this match due to having the most Tournament Points accrued during pool and knockout rounds. The Men’s Championship match was abandoned before the match commencement due to sever weather. Therefore, in accordance with Tournament rules, Tonga Men’s was declared the winner, due to having the most points are the pool and knock out rounds. The official ranking for the 2022 Oceania Rugby Men’s 7s Challenge is as follows: Tonga Papua New Guinea Solomon Islands Cook Islands Australia A Vanuatu Niue Kiribati As the top two ranks teams in the Men’s 7s Challenge, Tonga and Papua New Guinea Men’s have qualified to represent Oceania at the 2023 World Rugby Challenger Series. Source: Oceania Rugby 

A total of 49 wards in the Rabaul District will witness the swearing-in of its ward development committees (WDC) this week. The swearing-in occasion of members of the WDCs kicked off today (Mon) for Rabaul Urban LLG (RULLG) for its 11 wards, Watom LLG will be on Wed for its 6 wards, Balanataman LLG on Thursday for its 19 wards and Kombiu LLG will be on Friday for its 13 wards. This culminates from the rollout of a 21 days ward governance mentoring and WDC setup program initiated by the Districts and LLG Services Division under the ENB Provincial Administration (ENBPA). Commencing on Nov 7, the total of 18 LLGs under the four district administrations of Rabaul, Kokopo, Gazelle and Pomio took lead in reviving this program in the 382 wards to address the weak system of governance displayed at the ward level. Speaking today at the WDC swearing-in program for 77 officials for the 11 wards in Rabaul Urban LLG was Advisor for Districts and LLG Services, Rose August who said the Organic Law stated LLGs must be fully resourced to execute roles at the ward level. "In terms of WDC, this structure has not been existent with only one or two people on the committee but now full committee with representatives covering all strategic result areas," she said. She said there would be no LLGs and districts without the wards where most of the people, resources and economic activities are. She said strengthening ward governance at the ward level will alleviate social and law and order problems and promote economic development. Rabaul Deputy District Administrator for Administration, Babel Umri said the swearing in today is a significant milestone in the history of wards. Mr Umri said following the Organic Law Reform in 1995, bottom up planning still has not been realized. He commended ENBPA for this initiative to drive government policy at the ward level. Rabaul District Magistrate Maristella Painap reminded the newly sworn in officials that they are the connection at the ward level. Attending the occasion was Magistrate Maristella Painap who facilitated the swearing in of the 77 officials and senior officers from the ENBPA, Rabaul district Administration and RULLG.

PNG Air is pleased to advise our customers, corporate travellers, and the general public that our sales office in Tabubil, Western Province has now reopened. With this reopening, customers in Tabubil can now purchase tickets at our new Sales Office. We are located next to Starmart in the heart of the township. Flight bookings can also be made at any PNG Air, Post PNG Sales Office or online via www.pngair.com.pg We look forward to welcoming you onboard soon, as we continue to connect our domestic network across Papua New Guinea.

The Governments of Australia, Papua New Guinea and the People’s Republic of China met on October 18, to endorse the Trilateral Collaboration on Malaria and Health Security Phase 2 – an innovative partnership supporting malaria and elimination efforts of the PNG’s National Malaria Control Program. Senior government officials from the three partner governments met for the first time since the beginning of Phase 2 which started in 2020 as COVID disrupted previous attempts at a joint meeting. Representing the PNG Government, Deputy Secretary for the Department of National Planning and Monitoring’s (DNPM) Policy and Planning Wing, Michael Kumung thanked the Governments of Australia and China for supporting PNG’s efforts to address malaria. “Papua New Guinea is in a hot spot area for malaria and this disease affects many of our people. This project is very important as malaria is a significant concern in this country,” said Mr Kumung. Mr Kumung added that there is much work to be done in malaria elimination after the challenges of COVID-19 on project implementation. The Australian High Commission’s Minister Counsellor, Diane Barclay acknowledged the significance of the three governments collaboration under the second phase of the trilateral partnership. “The Government of Australia is delighted for the opportunity to reconfirm its commitment to this unique partnership, drawing from our respective experiences and expertise to continue to tackle malaria in PNG”, said Ms Barclay. Since 2016, The Trilateral Malaria Project has been supporting the PNG Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL), PNG Institute of Medical Research (PNGIMR), UPNG School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS), the National Malarial Control Program and West Sepik Provincial Health Authority (WSPHA) to improve the quality of malaria testing, and diagnosis, sentinel surveillance and operational research to inform malaria policy and programming in PNG. The project has enabled an increase in WHO qualified microscopists in PNG where in 2016 there was only one Level 1 microscopist and now there are 147 WHO certified malarial microscopists practising in provincial health facilities and research institutions across the country. Microscopists are important to ensure malaria is diagnosed correctly. The project is contributing to improved national reference laboratory processes and systems, such as establishing a national malaria slide bank and a molecular hub. The molecular hub is a laboratory with that enables scientists and technicians from PNG institutions and their international partners to collaborate and partner together to respond quickly to public health diseases and outbreaks including the recent COVID 19. The hub allowed each institution to capitalise on each other’s’ strengths and leverage resources and expertise, enabling PNG to manage disease outbreaks effectively. In her closing remarks, Shi Ying from China’s National Disease Control and Prevention Administration, congratulated all partners for making positive progress under the Trilateral pilot model and achieving the projects technical goals. Ms Ying said, “We once again express our appreciation and congratulations to our partners for their progress. Including reconfirming the strategic direction of the project and emphasizing the importance of reaching consensus among partners in supporting a broader long term cooperation project.”

Air Niugini wishes to inform students who are sponsored by the Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (DHERST) that your tickets will be sent to you via email. To minimize queues at the sales office, we encourage students to communicate through email only. Students are advised to email: students.dherst@airniugini.com.pg with : 1. Your full name, 2. A copy of your valid student Identification Card(ID) 3. Your mobile phone number with country code +675 4. And preferred date of travel (Up to 31 DEC 2022). Your tickets will be processed, and sent back to your email, within 48 hours. Students are also reminded to ensure you present your valid Student ID during boarding. Those without IDs will be denied boarding and tickets forfeited. Due to peak period travel, students are urged to make bookings early to avoid missing out on your desired date of travel. Tickets are valid for two months ONLY with no change permitted once ticketed for uplift. Should students miss their flights, they will be responsible for any rebooking / change fees or lose their tickets if they fail to board (FTB).

A total of 49 wards in the Rabaul District will witness the swearing-in of its ward development committees (WDC) this week. The swearing-in occasion of members of the WDCs kicked off on Monday 23/11/22 for Rabaul Urban LLG (RULLG) for its 11 wards, Watom LLG will be on Wed for its 6 wards, Balanataman LLG on Thursday for its 19 wards and Kombiu LLG will be on Friday for its 13 wards. This culminates from the rollout of a 21 days ward governance mentoring and WDC setup program initiated by the Districts and LLG Services Division under the ENB Provincial Administration (ENBPA). Commencing on Nov 7, the total of 18 LLGs under the four district administrations of Rabaul, Kokopo, Gazelle and Pomio took lead in reviving this program in the 382 wards to address the weak system of governance displayed at the ward level. Speaking today at the WDC swearing-in program for 77 officials for the 11 wards in Rabaul Urban LLG was Advisor for Districts and LLG Services, Rose August who said the Organic Law stated LLGs must be fully resourced to execute roles at the ward level. "In terms of WDC, this structure has not been existent with only one or two people on the committee but now full committee with representatives covering all strategic result areas," she said. She said there would be no LLGs and districts without the wards where most of the people, resources and economic activities are. She said strengthening ward governance at the ward level will alleviate social and law and order problems and promote economic development. Rabaul Deputy District Administrator for Administration, Babel Umri said the swearing in today is a significant milestone in the history of wards. Mr Umri said following the Organic Law Reform in 1995, bottom up planning still has not been realized. He commended ENBPA for this initiative to drive government policy at the ward level. Rabaul District Magistrate Maristella Painap reminded the newly sworn in officials that they are the connection at the ward level. Attending the occasion was Magistrate Maristella Painap who facilitated the swearing in of the 77 officials and senior officers from the ENBPA, Rabaul district Administration and RULLG.

Lionel Messi is urging Argentina to unite and deliver a compelling response to the “hard blow” of an opening-match defeat by Saudi Arabia at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. Messi raised the possibility of an Argentina cruise – expected in many quarters – when he converted from the penalty spot after 10 minutes in Lusail. Lionel Scaloni’s team repeatedly threatened to extend their advantage and had three ‘goals’ chalked off for offside. And the courageous Saudis stunned their illustrious opponents with two goals inside five second-half minutes to turn the game on its head – and world football’s established order upside down. Defeat leaves Argentina – whose 36-match unbeaten run went up in smoke – very little margin for error in games against Mexico on Saturday and Robert Lewandowski-spearheaded Poland next Wednesday. “There are no excuses," said Messi. "It is a very hard blow for everyone, we didn't expect to start like this. We are going to be more united than ever. This group is strong and we have shown it. This is a situation we did not have to go through in a long time. Now we have to show this is a real group.” Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia would qualify as a shock by any reckoning. But the result assumes additional significance in the context of the South Americans’ form over the past three years. Coach Scaloni’s side last suffered defeat way back in July 2019, against Brazil. They were seeking to equal Italy’s international record undefeated 37-match sequence on Tuesday – and only last summer beat Brazil in their own back yard to claim the CONMEBOL Copa America and end Messi’s extended wait for international success. Argentina further established their position among the World Cup favourites when they comfortably beat Italy in the relaunched CONMEBOL-UEFA Cup of Champions match at Wembley in June. But Messi’s side, who lost a World Cup match they were leading at half-time for the first time since the 1930 final against Uruguay, were left to address a number of shortcomings following their Qatar debut. Saleh Al Shehri levelled for Saudi Arabia three minutes after the restart and a beautiful shot into the top corner from Salem Al Dawsari won the game for a side that had only two victories from 10 matches prior to the tournament. "Things happen for a reason,” added Messi.” We have to prepare for what's coming, we have to win [against Mexico and Poland] and it depends on us. We knew that Saudi Arabia was a team with good players, that moves the ball well and advances the [defensive] line a lot. "We had worked on it, but that's why we had many goals ruled out. Perhaps we did not find the right moment to avoid falling into the trap." Argentina reached the final of the Italy 1990 World Cup despite being similarly stunned by unfancied Cameroon in their opening fixture. And Messi, hoping to feature in six more matches over the next three-and-a-half weeks, added: "It's the first game. It's up to us to correct what we did wrong, [and] try to get back to the base of who we are. Source: FIFA.com

An earthquake of 7.0 magnitude has struck the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean, near the south-west region of Malango. No injuries or deaths have been reported yet, but people in the capital Honiara reported significant shaking and tremors for around 20 seconds. Amid immediate warnings of a tsunami, the prime minister's office advised locals to move to higher ground. However, the islands' meteorological service later dropped the warning. A separate authority, the US-supported Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, also said the threat had largely passed. The quake hit just after 13:00 local time (02:00 GMT), at a depth of 15km (9 miles) and 18km south-west of the coast according to the US Geological Survey. It caused power outages and prompted some in Honiara to rush out of buildings. "The building was really violently shaking," a hotel manager told the AFP news agency. "It was really strong, it made you move side to side." The Solomon Islands' attorney-general published pictures on Twitter of overflowing filing cabinets and documents scattered on the floor after the quake. The quake was followed by at least three aftershocks in the same area, with the largest ranked at a 6.0 magnitude. The director of the Solomon Islands Meteorological Service, David Hiba Hiriasia, has urged locals to remain cautious due to expected aftershocks, and to stay alert around tall structures. It comes after an earthquake hit Indonesia's main island of Java on Monday, killing scores of people and injuring hundreds. The Solomon Islands and Indonesia sit on the "ring of fire" area of tectonic activity in the Pacific. Source: BBC News

Prime Minister James Marape has given his support to development of the oil palm industry in Papua New Guinea on a massive scale. PM Marape gave his support after he and East Sepik Governor, Allan Bird, met with representatives of Pacific Elite Palm Oil Group in Singapore on Monday (November 21, 2022). The company currently runs an oil palm project in East Sepik, which it wants to emulate in all provinces, saying that it will be an economic gamechanger for the whole country. The company aims to create the largest agriculture-based wealth in the South Pacific, as well as generate electricity for PNG, using oil palm. Governor Bird told PM Marape that if a long-term oil palm development plan was drawn up, with the aim of economic independence for PNG, one million hectares of oil palm grown all over PNG would bring in an extra K100 billion for the country. “We can double our GDP just from palm oil,” he said. “If we go into downstream processing, this K100 billion could double, so that we could be earning K200 billion on top of our current GDP. “The other flow-on to the economy is power production that fits into the grid, carbon credits, increased cattle production, as well as jobs. “Palm oil is amazing because you can do so much with it, including green energy, which can be generated from the waste of palm oil. “If we have 33 operations throughout PNG, similar to what we are doing in East Sepik, 100,000 jobs would be created “This is brilliant.” Governor Bird told PM Marape that oil palm, when made into biofuel, would save the country millions of kina. “If we produce enough palm oil, we don’t need to go out and buy fuel, as we can produce our own,” he said. “It can also bring inflation down as we are no longer importing inflation. “I’m excited because it provides us an escape plan from all these things that are affecting us.” PM Marape welcomed the proposal by Pacific Elite Palm Oil Group and the ideas of Governor Bird, who has helped to grown the vanilla and cocoa industries in East Sepik, and PNG. “As regards expanding nationwide, I invite you to come to Port Moresby, and I will run the investment figures past the super funds and Kumul Consolidated Holdings,” he told the company’s spokesperson Alexander Tho. “A family of investors can easily mobilise the money required for the project. “I also want you to have a stake in the business, and run it, as we cannot do it on our own, in like what Barrick is doing at Porgera Mine.”