The Prime Minister James Marape has announced that PNG is lucky to host one of the biggest events in the world, the Indigenous Business Forum come October 2023.
The World Indigenous Business Forum (WIBF) is an event that provides opportunity for the indigenous people all over the world to come together to share ideas and learn from each other, create partnership for business investment, entrepreneurship and other social economic benefit.
Prime Minister was delighted to make the announcement in a statement that PNG will host and fund the event.
“I am happy to announce that the National Executive Council has approved for Papua New Guinea to host and co-fund WIBF this year. This will be the biggest event that we will host as a country after APEC 2018,” Marape said.
“We have been supporting our local SMEs as a core policy of this Government and hosting of this event will not only highlight our support for the world indigenous business, but it will also provide an opportunity for our local business to build international networks, create partnerships and also look for markets among all the countries that will attend the forum. Our local entrepreneurs and SMEs will have the opportunity to showcase their products, share experiences, best practices and inspiration from successful businesses across the globe.”
“We want to use the opportunity to promote Papua New Guinea as an investment destination, a tourist destination, as a safe place to do business, open up opportunities for us to build networks to find export markets for our products to the world, and also help us to encourage indigenous businesses from all around the world to come and invest in PNG” he added.
2023 WIBF will bring in more than 600 indigenous businesses around the world to participate with around 400 indigenous Papua New Guinean businesses.
Prime Minister Marape said this forum will bring K10 million into the country.
“I call on all our indigenous SMEs and large companies to prepare well and take full advantage of this one-off opportunity to market your products and services and our country to the delegations from around the world who will be coming to attend this forum. You must also canvas new business opportunities and forge partnerships to grow your businesses with new indigenous partners from around the world,” PM Marape said.
The 2023 WIBF will be spearheaded by the Ministry for International Trade & Investment which will be chaired by the National Steering Committee and Vice-Minister, Hon. Kessy Sawang. The committee will also comprise of other relevant Government agencies and private sectors including Tourism Promotion Authority, Department of Agriculture, Department of Foreign Affairs, Cocoa Board, Coffee Industry Corporation, SME Corporation and MSME Council of PNG.
