Prime Minister Marape heads to Solomons to champion PNG business expansion

 Prime Minister Marape heads to Solomons to champion PNG business expansion

Honiara will host Prime Minister James Marape this week as he leads Papua New Guinea's delegation to the inaugural PNG-Solomon Islands Investment Conference, an event billed as a milestone in transforming decades of political friendship into concrete economic partnership.

The two-day forum, opening tomorrow, will be jointly addressed by Marape and Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale, who carries the honour of formally launching the conference. Organisers expect a strong turnout of government representatives, investors, corporate leaders, financiers and development agencies from across both countries.

  Ahead of the trip, Marape framed the gathering as a natural next step for two nations whose ties run deep. "This Conference is about taking the strong Relationship between Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands into its next important phase," he said, pointing to the countries' shared history and close people-to-people connections.

The Prime Minister argued that such longstanding bonds now needed to be matched by economic substance. "We must now use that foundation to generate greater economic opportunities for our people. We want to move from opportunity to actual investment, and from government-to-government cooperation into stronger business-to-business partnerships," he said.

Figures cited by Marape show PNG's business presence in the Solomons is already substantial. A 30-year assessment identifies 126 PNG-origin investments spread across 18 sectors, covering everything from mining and fisheries to insurance, retail, tourism and professional services.

Collectively, these ventures have generated employment opportunities for over 7,500 Solomon Islanders, with the agriculture, professional services and fisheries sectors leading the way in job creation. What began mainly as large capital projects in mining, telecommunications, tourism and agriculture, Marape said, has since grown into a far more varied commercial presence spanning finance, construction, transport and smaller enterprises.

"PNG businesses have shown that they can successfully invest beyond our borders while creating employment and contributing to the economy of a neighbouring Pacific country," he said, extending appreciation to the Solomon Islands government and its people for their openness toward PNG investors.

Marape stressed that the door swings both ways. "Solomon Islands businesses are equally welcome to explore opportunities in PNG," he said.