Korea keen to deepen relationship with PNG

The Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Papua New Guinea [PNG], His Excellency Jongho Choi, on Wednesday this week announced that the Korea International Cooperation Agency [KOICA] will be establishing its office in PNG.

Ambassador Choi made this announcement during his meeting with the Minister for International Trade and Investment, Richard Maru.

“This is a welcoming news. KOICA is South Korea's government agency for providing official development assistance to developing countries through grant aid and technical cooperation.

"We want to see more aid flows between PNG and Korea. We also want Korea Eximbank to be more active in our market as they offer one of the lowest interest rates.

"We have a good record with Korea Eximbank as we repaid our first loan for the Wewak storm drainage project on time, and we want more concessional aid.

"We look forward to the establishment of KOICA office in PNG and to working with them on grant projects and also development finance,” said Minister Maru.

The Minister and the Ambassador also discussed Minister Maru’s visit to South Korea next week to attend the APEC Ministerial Meeting [AMM].

“I will also be meeting a number of potential investors in the two days that I am making available to meet with the private sector in Korea on the margins of the AMM. We are very keen on bringing some Korean investors to PNG,” said Minister Maru.

“I am very happy that the Government of Korea is keen to deepen the relationship with PNG. I welcome that and look forward to working with the Korean Government and a number of Korean investors to invest in PNG, specifically in Special Economic Zones and in the non-resource sectors.

"Korean companies are also keen to be Engineering, Procurement, and Construction [EPC] contractors in the mining and petroleum sector.

"We are keen to see more win-win partnerships in line with our new foreign policy of securing partnerships for security and economic prosperity,” he added.