A new ring road being built ahead of the 2018 APEC summit, diplomats warned and other local and international stories.

National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop has already begun preparing to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit in 2018. More than 20 leaders, including the Presidents of the United States and China, are expected to attend the summit. Parkop has signed an agreement to build a two-kilometre, four-lane ring-road around the Paga Hill beachfront. The project will cost K50 million (US$19.3 million).

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The fortunes of Harmony Gold appear to be rising. The company reports production at its Hidden Valley mine has increased by about seven per cent. Harmony’s results for the current will be released on Friday, 8 November 2013.

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Papua New Guinea’s mining and petroleum industry paid an average of about K2.24 billion in government taxes each year for six years. The PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum has reported the industry contributes more than one-third of government tax revenue every year.

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PNG will account for 75.8 per cent of total primary energy demand in the Pacific by 2035.
The Asian Development Bank says in its latest Energy Outlook for Asia and the Pacific that PNG must maintain its focus on hydro generation for electricity, rather than increasing fossil fuel electricity generation.

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The largest trade delegation from Taiwan in 20 years has been in Port Moresby and Lae over the last week, meeting with local businesspeople and have signed an economic cooperation agreement with the PNG Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The delegation represented the electronics, agricultural equipment, solar energy and IT industries.

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Transparency International in Papua New Guinea fears inquiries into the controversial Special Agricultural Business Leases will lead nowhere. A report from a commission of inquiry last month detailed widespread corruption and mismanagement. TI PNG’s executive director, Lawrence Stephens, has told Radio NZ International he fears because a number of MPs have benefitted from this corruption, no action will be taken.

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PNG Attorney-General and Justice Minister Kerenga Kua has told foreign diplomats not to interfere in its internal affairs. His warning follows a newspaper advertisement by EU ambassador, Martin Dihm, French ambassador, Pascal Maubert and UK High Commissioner, Jackie Barson, which criticised the reintroduction of the death penalty.

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A Morobe provincial government official reports two top coffee-growing areas, Kabwum and Menyamya, have been hard hit by Lutheran Shipping ceasing services to the nearest port at Wasu, and by atrocious roads. He said the roads are only usable by four-wheel drives on good days, and ‘big vehicles with containers can’t go in’.

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A Solomon Islands court is hearing a dispute between a Japanese and Australian mining company over nickel mining rights on Santa Isabel island. Japan’s Sumitomo and Australia’s Axiom Mining claim they have the approval of two different landowners to start mining. The government believes that once the dispute is settled, mining will grow.

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Samoa’s Prime Minister (and Tourism Minister) Tuilaepa Sa’ilele has been giving tips to local hoteliers on how to attract more guests and make better profits, telling them Fiji hotels are one-third the price.

‘If you were from New Zealand or Australia, you wouldn’t go for the $100, you would pick $30 because one night in Samoa is the same as three nights in Fiji,” he explained. “The trick is you give them $30 per night and then you strike them with a bill of $30 for food, $50 for beverage and you get a $110.’

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