The Pacific demands tuna catch limits, a corruption report injunction lifted, and a call for a national debate on foreign investment laws. Your quick digest of the week’s business news.

The future of the Pacific, the world’s largest tuna fishery, is being debated in Cairns this week, with Pacific Island nations demanding a 30% cut in the catch, now worth $US7.0 billion a year. A record 2.65 million tonnes of tuna was hauled from the Pacific last year, accounting for 60% of the global catch.

* * *

Toronto-listed PNG Gold Corporation, which has exploration interests on Normanby Island, Milne Bay Province, has reported a net loss of $C31.5 million (K75.5m) for the third quarter of the financial year. 
It has blamed the loss on the current economic uncertainty, a downturn in the mining industry and the decision to significantly reduce future exploration spending until the economy improves.

* * *

Following recent criticism of the lack of definition about what foreign investments are ‘the national interest’, the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called for a national debate over the issue. In neighbouring Australia, the debate  is in full swing: in rejecting the sale of GrainCorp last week, Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey admitted ‘the tenor of community attitudes and level of popular support’ were factors. POMCCI CEO David Conn says a PNG Foreign Investment Review Board should ‘set clear parameters for all who wish to enter our economy’.

* * *

The PNG Parliament has unanimously voted to amend the Constitution to allow for dual citizenship. Immigration and Foreign Affairs Minister, Rimbik Pato, has reportedly said dual citizens will not be allowed to vote, hold public office, own land or have free access to official documents. The bill is yet to pass its third reading.

* * *

A judge in Papua New Guinea has lifted an injunction preventing the publication of a damning report into corruption at the country’s Finance Department. The 2010 report details how the department paid out hundreds of millions of dollars in sham compensation claims. It recommended more than 50 people, including lawyers, senior bureaucrats and businessmen be referred for criminal prosecution. Meanwhile, Transparency International reports PNG ranks a lowly 144 out of 168 in the 2013 Corruption Index.

* * *

Japan’s ‘Tuna King’, Kiyomura Corporation chairman Kiyoshi Kimura, is ‘ready to invest’ hundreds of millions of kina in Papua New Guinea in the fishery and hotel industries. The PNG cabinet has given Kimura permission to start up a fishing operation in Kavieng. It is also considering allowing a new airline, Paradise Link, to operate out of Kavieng into Guam and connecting into Japan via All Nippon Airways, of which Kiyomura is Deputy Chairman.

* * *

PNG Power Ltd has signed a deal with Aggreko Generator Rentals of Australia for the lease of a 10MW power station for Port Moresby. The facility, to be installed at the Moitaka power station, would increase PPL’s generation capacity to meet the growing demand and lessen power outages in the National Capital District.

* * *

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) says Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) economy is likely to suffer the biggest losses in the Pacific from climate change. A new report says severe failures in sweet potato crops and other agricultural products, and the increased economic burdens of cooling, mortality and land depletion, could trigger a loss of up to 15.2% of PNG’s GDP by 2100.

* * *

Australia and Papua New Guinea have signed off on a new project addressing rising food insecurity among smallholder cocoa and oil palm farmers in PNG. The four-year AUD$1.2 million (K2.83 million) project will work with oil palm communities in northern and western New Britain, and cocoa communities in East New Britain Province, Milne Bay and the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

* * *

A massive road development programme costing up to K800 million (US$305.9 million) is underway in Port Moresby ahead of the 2015 Pacific Games. City Manager Leslie Ahu, says the programme includes a four-lane arterial road, a flyover, a ring road and upgraded airport road.

* * *

Fiji’s trade with Papua New Guinea has increased by 67% over the last five years, according to Fiji Investment. Fiji’s projected trade surplus this year is estimated to be US$36.9 million (K94 million), almost double that in 2011.

* * *

The wreckage of a Second World War US fighter plane has been found in a swampy area in East Honiara, Solomon Islands. A team from the US, including members of the immediate family of one of the crew, spent last week unearthing the plane with the help of locals.

* * *