PNG LT Reassurances

[Tree]

Reassure Industry?? What about us retailers??

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PNG looks reassure industry

Russell Searancke

 04 December 2012 01:47 GMT

The Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea said steps are in place to ensure that oil and gas investors in the country will have long-term political stability.

Prime Minister Peter O’Neill was re-elected in August following a tumultuous year in which Michael Somare also claimed to be the prime minister and several ministers including Petroleum & Energy Minister William Duma were stood down.

O’Neill told delegates at the PNG Mining and Petroleum Conference in Sydney he has made three major commitments to ensure PNG remains a good place to invest.

The first is long-term political stability, with a constitutional change approved that will extend from 18 months to 30 months the period after a national election in which a prime minister cannot be removed by a no-confidence motion. Throughout history, numerous prime ministers have been brought down prematurely through no-confidence votes.

The second commitment, said O'Neill, is stamping out corruption.

"No one involved in corruption and fraud should feel safe - political leaders, public servants, and business people."

"Corruption is a cancer," said O'Neill. "It has to be cut out and destroyed. The best way to deal with it is to have a strong deterrent - a corruption fighting authority - and tough penalties."

The third commitment is a growing economy and responsible fiscal management.

O'Neill said GDP growth this year will be 9% while last year was 11.1%. The US$19 billion PNG liquefied natural gas project is underpinning that growth, and there are more gas projects and mining projects to come, he said.

"We have a stable political system, we are tackling the scourge of corruption, we are addressing social challenges, we have a strong economy, and a sound fiscal position," said O'Neill, adding that these were the right foundations for strong petroleum and resources growth.

[freddiekingman]

good thing Tree...by ensuring the O&G industry to have a long political stability and PNG being a good place to invest he is practicly saying that, when they opt to buy more of our gas, it will be at good commercial terms...IMO

interoil knows this..that's why they're saying 'in PNG for PNG'....

[ebster123]

O'Neil made some very strong comments about that should have echoed with not only to Duma but also to RDS:
"No one involved in corruption and fraud should feel safe - political leaders, public servants, and business people."

[Palm]

Good points Ebster. I agree that O'Neill is working OT to get these points across but not just with words. The corruption task force has teeth and is constantly working to expose fraud and a few people have already been booted. More are coming.