Business Leads, MOU's and greater Opportunities as key outcome from VIPA PNG Study Tour
From the 25th to the 29th of November, the members of the VIPA Board and Management undertook a study tour to Papua New Guinea to connect with the country’s Investment Promotion Authority.
The study tour was planned months before as a Board resolution that would assist the Board and Management to enhance their understanding of how PNG IPA implemented its services successfully and take home key implementation tips that can be adopted by VIPA.
The VIPA team met with several key businesses in PNG including PNG LNG, the country’s major gas exporter, and PNG PUMA Refinery. Other businesses included the PNG ILIMO Dairy Farm.
The team also met with key Government units including the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce, the Small & Medium Enterprises Corporation, Tourism Industry Association, Industrial Centres Development Corporation and the PNG Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
The VIPA team had clear objectives for this visit that included the reviewing and reviving of an MOU that existed between VIPA and PNG IPA, potential business leads and opportunities that can be expanded to Vanuatu and the observation of the IPA’s operations especially with its similar set up of being both the promoter and the regulator of foreign investments.
The MOU is scheduled to be signed by the first quarter of this year 2020, an activity that VIPA is preparing and looking forward towards seeing it come to realization.
Another promising outcome for the study tour was the establishment of business connections with PNG ILIMO Dairy Farm.
Discussions between VIPA and the PNG dairy company have already begun and preparations towards seeing this expansion from PNG to Vanuatu achieved are well underway.
The study tour was an overall success and will serve the agency well in terms of improving its facilitation roles and services on the whole.
