The Governor for Guangdong Province of China, Wang Weizhong said his Government was already working with a local airline company, China Southern Airlines to open direct flights between Port Moresby and Guangzhou following his discussion with Prime Minister, Hon. James Marape during his visit to Port Moresby in July this year. Governor Weizhong said this during a banquet that he hosted for the Minister for International Trade and Investment, Hon. Richard Maru and his delegation. Governor Weizhong said the opening of direct flights between Port Moresby and Guangzhou would improve more business connectivity between Papua New Guinea (PNG) and Guangdong Province, and China.
Governor Weizhong said that Chinese private sector and the Chinese enterprises in Papua New Guinea (PNG) raised a concern that it took relatively long for them to get visas. He suggested that PNG Government established a consulate in Guangzhou to help facilitate visas for not only business travelers but also for tourists with tourism being a huge market which was untapped. Vanuatu had recently opened its consulate in Guangzhou in addition to their embassy in Beijing, making it the 68th country to open a consulate in Guangzhou specially to facilitate the process of visas.
Governor Weizhong said he was keen to support more investors from his province to invest in PNG and he would be sending a large delegation to attend the inaugural PNG-Asia Investment Conference in Hong Kong which will be hosted in October 16-17, 2023. He also specifically requested for Prime Minister Marape to visit Guangdong Province, in particular the capital of the province, Guangzhou, during his visit to Hong Kong and Beijing in October.
Governor Weizhong also supported PNG Government’s decision to establish a trade mission in Shenzhen, and he said he would be happy to be there when Prime Minister Marape cut the ribbon to open the trade mission in October this year.
Minister Maru said his one-week visit to Guangdong Province was to let the Government and the people of China know that PNG was ready to do business with Guangdong Province and China.
“We will work on attending to the issues that have been raised as a concern to the people and the Government of China so we can improve the trade and investment relationship between our two countries and our people,” said Minister Maru.
