PNG to host first ever APEC Ministerial Meeting

Papua New Guinea  Prime Minister, Peter O'Neill  has expressed his satisfaction at the announcement of the first APEC Ministerial Meeting ever to be held in Papua New Guinea.

Forestry Minister, Hon. Douglas Tomuriesa MP, confirmed today that Papua New Guinea will host the Third APEC Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Forestry (MMRF3) in Port Moresby, on October 27-29.

This meeting is one of up to 200 APEC meetings that will take place in Papua New Guinea in preparation for the APEC Leaders' Summit in November 2018, and this is a high level ministerial meeting.

The Prime Minister, who is also the Minister Responsible for APEC, said the meeting and other APEC events provide an opportunity for Papua New Guinea to make an important contribution to regional policy discussion, and to gain form APEC's knowledge and skills base.

"The ultimate outcome of our involvement in APEC is that we expand export opportunities for our businesses, increase our technical capacity and create jobs for Papua New Guineans," Prime Minister O'Neill said.

"Papua New Guinea's participation in APEC has continued to evolve, particularly since the Leaders' Meeting in 2011 where we took decisive steps to escalate our participation.

"As one of only 21 APEC Member Economies we have to make use of the opportunity this provides to our nation to contribute to regional economic policy development.

"Through APEC participation our country presents our perspective, that is representative of many developing countries, to the largest economies in the world.

"Papua New Guinea has a particularly important role to play in presenting that developing country perspective, particularly of the broader Pacific Island Community, in the APEC process."

The Prime Minister said the input provided through APEC across many sectors is felt by many people in the country but they are not always aware of APEC's influence.

"Through APEC we have access to knowledge, skills and training as well as information on product and technical standards across a broad range of sectors.

"This means we can draw from the greater knowledge and expertise throughout the APEC family for implementation in Papua New Guinea where this is relevant.

"This includes APEC research on improving post-harvest processes in agriculture, the experience of other economies in strengthening their tourism sectors, and we can have APEC projects undertaken in Papua New Guinea to empower women in small business.

"There is a lot for the nation to gain from our engagement in APEC, and there is a lot for Papua New Guinea to take to the APEC table."

The Ministerial Meeting has been facilitated through engagement between the PNG Forest Authority, the APEC PNG Secretariat and the Asia-Pacific Network for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet).

"We look forward to demonstrating the capacity of Papua New Guinea to host major policy events that bring together leading experts from the public and private sectors."