Primer Minister Peter O’Neill travelled to China to attend a business forum, five Members of Parliament resigned and Oil Search outlined the terms of agreement of Papua LNG. Your weekly digest of business news.

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill travelled to Beijing, China, to attend the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

Thirty-seven state and government officials, including 10 ASEAN leaders, and about 100 representatives from around the world gathered in Beijing to attend the event. (PNG Facts)

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday met with Papua New Guinea (PNG) Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, who is here to attend the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. #ChinaXi #BeltandRoad #BRF pic.twitter.com/EVa5flZFiY

— CCTV (@CCTV) April 26, 2019

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Five Members of Parliament (MPs) have resigned from the People’s National Congress. Peter Ipatas, William Powi, Philip Undialu, Manasseh Makiba and Davis Steven announced their resignation during a press conference in Port Moresby last Friday.

It’s been reported that during the press conference the resigning MPs mentioned their dissatisfaction with the government’s actions in ‘signing the Papua LNG Project agreement this month with French company Total SA, warning that interests of provinces and landowners were not being protected.’ (RNZ)

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NASFUND Savings and Loan Society (NCSL) is expected to launch a debit card in mid-June this year. According to General Manager Vari Lahui, NASFUND has ordered 45,000 cards and 200 terminals for distribution. The debit card will be ‘linked to the NCLS transaction account which will be separate from the general savings account, education and kids’ savings account.’ (The National)

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Teachers Savings and Loan Society will be paying an additional interest of K19.6 million to its financial members for the 2018 financial year. ‘The bonus interest is in addition to the interest paid in members saving throughout the year totalling K7.1 million. Bringing the total interest credit to our members saving account to a record K26.7 million for year 2018 financial year,’ said Deputy Board Chairman, Sam Nalong. (Post Courier)

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Over a billion kina is being invested in Port Moresby’s new China Town. During the breaking ceremony, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill said that ‘the new project is a demonstration of change taking place in the country and the strengthening of a global relationship for Papua New Guinea’. (ONE PNG)

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The Kundiawa General Hospital (KGH) is using PNG DataCo’s Highlands Fibre Network to provide telemedicine services to its patients and for resident doctors to access medical journals and research materials online. Une O’Ome, General Manager Commercial for DataCo PNG congratulated KGH for being the first hospital to connect under DataCo’s CSR health initiative package. He also assured KGH of DataCo’s ongoing support to make sure the ‘hospital enjoys affordable, reliable and fast internet for the benefit of the province and the region’. (Post Courier)

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The Asian Development Bank has approved an umbrella facility of up to $100 million to provide financing support to renewable energy projects. (Post Courier)

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Online shopping platform BzzWorld has launched its mobile app. The app was designed to enable customers to shop online in a more ‘convenient and easy way’. During the launch of the mobile app a partnership with Centrellian Distributors and Food Station was also announced. ‘Compared to traditional commerce, ecommerce can cut down cost for customers as they will be ordering directly from the sellers,’ said Oceania’s President Jaso Huang. (EMTV)

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Air Niugini has announced that it has plans to resume Fokker flights to Kieta from PNG’s capital city from Tuesday the 7th of May. (Air Niugini)

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New Britain Palm Oil Limited has confirmed it has been awarded with a K58 million contract to PalmitEco Engineering to design, supply, install, commission and complete the construction of two palm oil mills in the Markham Valley. (Post Courier)

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Peter Botten, Oil Search’s Managing Director, has outlined the terms of agreement of Papua LNG,  which ‘the company believes to be a fair split of the project’s expected returns to the benefit of all stakeholders.’ The terms include: a 5 per cent Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) that guarantees gas is available domestically; a National Content Plan, outlining how the local workforce and businesses will participate in the development of the project, and a deferred payment mechanism for the Government’s share of past development costs. (Post Courier)

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The Small and Medium Enterprise Corporation and the PNG-Australia Partnership has delivered a two week course in Sohe District (Northern Province) to more than 30 women. The graduates learned marketing, research and business techniques. According to SME Corporation’s Edward Bal Kepa, the training ‘aims to upskill and encourage potential entrepreneurs to learn to plan, start and manage business, and then encourage growth from small to medium and large businesses.’ (LOOP PNG)

Photograph of the Week

PNG’s Women’s Rugby League team, the Orchids, made it to the 2017 World Cup against all odds. Credit: Power Meri

The documentary Power Meri (Joanna Lester, 2018) explores the many challenges that Papua New Guinea’s first national women’s rugby league team, the PNG Orchids, faced on their journey to the 2017 World Cup in Australia.

The documentary has won numerous awards in international film festivals and continues to screen in Australia and Papua New Guinea through the innovative online platform demand.film. The platform lets individuals and companies organise screenings for the film of their choosing. If not enough tickets are sold for the screening, the event gets cancelled and there is no penalisation for the organiser.