PNG well placed to absorb GFC
By Tim Harcourt
As an "Airport Economist" you get to have some funny experiences. En route to Papua New Guinea (PNG) recently, I noticed on my Air Niugini flight from Brisbane to Port Moresby that the instructions in the toilets were in Icelandic! Now Reykjavik is a fair trek from Port Moresby (and not many Vikings have walked the Kokoda Trail last time I checked) so I was a bit surprised to see a Nordic language sign on an Air Niugini flight.
Full story - theage.com.au
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PNG: Port Development (Sector) Project
Deadline for Bids: 12th February 2010
View the Invitation for Prequalification
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Welcome our new member - NPO
The NZ National Project Office (NPO) is a strategic alliance of New Zealand’s leading engineering companies offering integrated solutions to international projects. Services include feasibility, design and manufacturing through to on site project management and commissioning of any type of industrial project. The NPO is very interested in the ExxonMobil PNG LNG project and any other industrial projects in PNG. For full details view npo.co.nz.
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What is PACER Plus?
PACER Plus is a trade and economic development agreement between Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Forum Island Countries. PACER Plus builds on the existing Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations (PACER). However, in contrast to the original PACER, PACER Plus will contain trade liberalisation provisions as well as take into account the special nature of our relationship with the Pacific. This means that PACER Plus will not be a traditional FTA in which commercial interests alone define New Zealand’s position.
New Zealand’s objective is to ensure that the agreement promotes sustainable economic growth in the Pacific by assisting Pacific Island Countries to take advantage of their trade potential, to raise standards of living, increase jobs and export capacity in the region, and to address the significant trade imbalance that currently exists between the Pacific and New Zealand.
The agreement must also be flexible and take account of individual countries’ circumstances, sizes and stages of development. As a trade and economic agreement, PACER Plus will create a new framework under which the private sector will operate.
New Zealand is a truly Pacific nation
More than a quarter of a million New Zealanders (6% of the population) currently identify themselves as Pacific Islanders. In 15 years time, that proportion is expected to grow to 10%.
New Zealand has the potential to be a key driver for sustainable economic development in the Pacific. New Zealand and Australia have committed to ensuring that PACER Plus will complement our official development assistance (ODA) to build the right kind of national and regional arrangements that will help them expand and add value to their internal and export marketing efforts.
More information
> Background to PACER Plus
> MFAT information on PACER Plus
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