PNG to introduce foreign business restrictions
A plan by Papua New Guinea's Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry to restrict operation of foreign-owned businesses has met a mixed reaction.
Transcript
A plan by Papua New Guinea's Minister for Trade, Commerce and Industry to restrict operation of foreign-owned businesses has met a mixed reaction.
Richard Maru, says a parliamentary bill will be tabled in May that would require business ventures of under 3.8 million US dollars to be restricted to Papua New Guineans.
Mr Maru said foreigners involved in reserved businesses would be asked to leave the country, with the government to buy their businesses and give them to locals to run.
Johnny Blades has more.
The complaints by many Papua New Guineans that foreigners have taken over the retail sector in many provinces have now met re-assurance from the Minister. Hinting that details of the plan may be yet to be finalised, Richard Maru said the plan is that all foreigners involved in reserve businesses such as trade stores and fast-food must leave the country in three years time. The President of Papua New Guinea's Indigneous Business Council Sir Nagora Bogan says PNG risks future social anarchy if indigeous people don't start to take greater part in economic activity.
SIR NAGORA BOGAN: A lot of our people are still not on top and haven't really embraced entrepreneurship and moreso in specific sectors retail is one. At the same time we have got an influx of Asians who have come in and gone through and we don't want similar problems in the Solomon Islands where there was an uprising against the asians down there and they went around and looted stores and burnt down chinese shops. Eventually the government had to charter links and fly out their citizens from there.
However, the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce says the minister's plan needs more thought. Ronald Seddon concedes that indigenous people are on the outer in the retail sector
RONALD SEDDON: Everyday Papua New Guineans, they're going into a trade store and behind the counter there's only Chinese faces. There is resentment then. They say, why are these guys selling behind the counter? It should be Papua New Guineans doing that and maybe the Chinese in the back office doing the management.
He says the chamber is keen to promote Papua New Guinean entrepeneurship but it has to be done the right way.
RICHARD SEDDON: We've had in the past situations like Stret Pasin which was where the government purchased trade stores and things like that from foreigners then trained Papua New Guineans to go in there and run the stores but unfortunately they didn't run them for very long because the main problem is being able to tell the difference between turnover and profit.
Professor Xiaoming Huang of the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre says the Minister's plan doesn't seem like the best way to integrate Papua New Guineans into the global economic system.
Xiaoming Huang: This is the global dynamic. You can't stop them. You need to find a way how to incorporate them and then work for the benefits of locals. You need to find some way of doing that but simply saying you do three years and then you leave, you know, business doesn't work that way.
Sir Nagora Bogan says he hopes that there can be a transitional process to the Minister's plan, which also allows foreigners to keep operating in areas where local entrepreneurial capacity is lacking. He says more dialogue is needed to encourage indigeous people to take greater part in economic activity.
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