Two organisations worth knowing about if you’re looking to invest in Papua New Guinea.

Investment Promotion Authority (www.ipa.gov.pg)

The IPA is the first point of contact for any potential investor considering doing business in PNG. Not only is the IPA responsible for promoting PNG as a business and investment destination, including the facilitation of trade visits, but it is also the organisation with which foreign companies must register if they wish to set up in PNG.

The IPA’s Managing Director Ivan Pomaleu advises Business Advantage that the organisation completed a new three-year strategic plan in 2010, designed to improve its response to the greatly increased business interest in PNG from overseas. The implementation of the plan, produced with the assistance of the International Finance Organisation, has already seen the launch of a new information website and will soon allow businesses to register online.

‘There’s a general acceptance that we are prepared to make the necessary changes to facilitate foreign direct investment,’ says Pomaleu. ‘We want to simplify Foreign Direct Investment.’

Independent Public Business Corporation (www.ipbc.com.pg)

The Independent Public Business Corporation (IPBC) was set up in 2002 to hold the majority of state-owned commercial assets in trust and to manage those assets prudently to improve commercial performance. This includes major entities such as Telikom PNG, PNG Power, PNG Ports Corporation, PNG Post, PNG Waterboard, Air Niugini, Motor Vehicle Insurance Ltd (MVIL) and Eda Ranu.

Since then it has enjoyed considerable success in overseeing the rehabilitation process of several of these organisations and sold 50% of Telikom’s Bemobile subsidiary.

In 2008 the IPBC was appointed as the state nominee for the Government’s 19.4% equity stake in the massive Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) consortium led by ExxonMobil, making IPBC the third-biggest equity holder in the project consortium.

Its current priorities include assisting SOEs to increase their capacity in order to provide a platform for PNG’s rapid economic growth. A range of key infrastructure projects including water and sewerage treatment, port redevelopment and power generation have been identified as suitable for private sector involvement.

This article first published in Business Advantage PNG 2011/2012