The Papua New Guinea (Hong Kong, China) Chamber of Commerce (PNGHKCCC) will be officially recognised by the Government of Papua New Guinea (PNG) on October 15, 2023, during a welcome dinner which will be hosted by the chamber for the PNG delegates who will be attending the upcoming inaugural PNG-Asia Investment Conference in Hong Kong on October 16-17. This arrangement was agreed on recently by the Minister for International Trade and Investment, Hon. Richard Maru and the Chairman of the PNGHKCCC, Mr. Anthony Lai in Hong Kong where Minister Maru and delegation met with the executives and the members of the chamber.
PNGHKCCC was established in 2019 with the objectives of becoming an information bank and promoter of PNG in Hong Kong, to help build business-to-business and people-to-people relationship between Hong Kong and PNG, and to set the foundation for Special Economic Zone development in PNG through bilateral technological skills transfer schemes.
"During the welcome dinner on October 15, Prime Minister, Hon. James Marape will be invited to formally give the PNG (Hong Kong, China) Chamber of Commerce an official Certificate of Recognition by the Government of Papua New Guinea. This will mean the chamber is officially recognized by our Government and the country as the official body that will represent Papua New Guinea in Hong Kong,” said Minister Maru.
Minister Maru asked the executives and the members of the PNGHKCCC to get behind PNG Government and the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum to host the inaugural PNG-Asia Investment Conference. Minister Maru and delegation also visited Regent Hotel which had been confirmed as the venue where the conference will be held.
“This will be the first time for us to host such conference out of Australia and it will be the start of a new journey between Papua New Guinea and China. China exports about K1.5 billion worth of goods to Papua New Guinea annually and we export up to K5 billion worth of goods to China every year. These figures indicate that China is becoming the most important trading partner of Papua New Guinea,” said Minister Maru.
"If this inaugural conference is successful then it will become an annual event which will build the bridge and relationship between Papua New Guinea and Hong Kong, China, and the greater Asia Region," added Minister Maru.
Meanwhile, PNGHKCCC raised a concern that it had been very difficult for the people, especially businessmen in Hong Kong and the southern part of China to get their visas to travel to PNG because Beijing was further up north, and it was costly for them to travel there and back to access the consular service there.
Minister Maru in response said he had noted these concerns and would take it up with the Government and the responsible departments when he returned to the country.
