Prime Minister Hon. James Marape has lauded the outstanding contributions by the Mining and Petroleum sector of Papua New Guinea towards employment growth and enabling overall economic growth through a resilient approach based on quality-driven mechanisms.
Amidst the 2024 PNG Investment Week that is currently underway at the Sydney International Convention Centre, in which Prime Minister Marape launched the event yesterday that has a record number of participants this year compared to prior years, he commends the Mining and Petroleum sector of PNG for not only providing employment opportunities but also imparting training and development amongst its workforce.
Underpinning the Marape-Rosso Government’s policy framework of creating 1 million jobs by 2030, the Prime Minister says with a few major resource projects already making positive progress in negotiations or are about to get off the ground, as well as potential projects on the horizon, creation of more jobs can be confidently anticipated.
The Prime Minister says given the high rate of unemployment, especially among youths in the country, the Mining and Petroleum sector is significantly contributing towards lowering that unemployment, and notably bringing in Foreign Direct Investment to boost the economy.
As per employment statistics, employment to population ratio for PNG is just under 50 percent, with about 12 percent of total employment coming from the Industry sector which includes mining and quarrying, construction, manufacturing and public utilities.
In emphasizing the importance of employment opportunities, PM Marape highlighted the Pangu-led Government’s policy of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Curriculum that has been introduced in the Education Sector and is already seeing success, with many PNG students going overseas in countries like the United States, China and India for studies which will pave the path for Papua New Guineans to work in the Mining and Petroleum sector, both in PNG and abroad.
With PNG’s unemployment rate hovering around the 3 percent mark this year, the Marape-Rosso Government through its significant and value-adding policies in the lower and higher education sectors like the Higher Education Loan Program (HELP), FODE and infrastructural development are proving successful in addressing unemployment in the country, which are then complimented by SME Empowerment programs and funding, as well as applying tax relief measures through the National Budget, enabling parents to have more to cover for school or tuition fees and to ease burden on cost of living.
“I would like to truly acknowledge the Mining and Petroleum sector of our country for tremendous work and contributions they have made through the five (5) decades that we have come through as a nation, especially in terms of creating job opportunities and training programs.
“PNG is a growth country economically. My Government has been working hard to diversify the economy by investing in the Non-Resource or Renewable sector, seeing a remarkable growth of 4.5 percent over the last four years. In the Resource sector, there are also business and employment opportunities through spin-off businesses, apart from the actual project operations,” Marape stated.