Efforts are underway to establish enabling legislation to facilitate the creation of a State-owned enterprise (SOE) dedicated to commercializing fisheries and marine resources for Papua New Guinea.
According to National Fisheries Authority this initiative aims to develop the sector into an attractive investment opportunity.
The Fisheries Capital Limited (FCL) company will represent the State’s commercial interests in fisheries and marine resources.
FCL will manage all the government investments in the sector and oversee the development of necessary infrastructure, to expand fisheries and marine resources in Papua New Guinea.
Minister for Fisheries and Marine Resources, Jelta Wong said. “FCL will transform Papua New Guinea’s role from merely managing the sector and facilitating commercial investments to actively participating in the commercial sphere,”
Mr. Wong explained that PNG and other Pacific Island Nations lose a significant portion of their tuna to outsiders, receiving only a disproportionate value in return. The establishment of this SOE aims to address this inequality.
“We have great hope for FCL because of the substantial investment potential in the sector, not only in PNG but throughout the Pacific. Fisheries and marine resources are the Pacific region’s ‘blue gold’; it’s time we harnessed this potential properly,” he said.
Mr. Wong stated that establishing such an SOE would allow for focused investment in fishing and processing, help to retain a greater portion of the resource value within the country.
He added that he looked forward to presenting the bills to Parliament before the end of the year.”
