THE Australian and Papua New Guinea governments are progressing rapidly to deliver a new high-speed Coral Sea Cable that will connect Port Moresby to the global economy through Sydney.
Yesterday, marine survey vessel the RV Northern Endeavour visited Port Moresby to survey the area where the cable will connect to Papua New Guinea’s mainland.
Local media had the opportunity to go on-board the vessel to see the facilities, meet the crew and understand more about the process of delivering this key infrastructure.

​Bank South Pacific (BSP) customers can now have their KunduCard branded in their favourite NRL team outfit as of 24th September, 2018.
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This follows the issuing of State of Origin co-branded KunduCards to customers in July.

The new NRL team co-branded cards is part of the 3 years deal between the bank and the Australian Rugby League Commission that saw the first launch of the State of Origin branded KunduCards this year.

​Air Niugini is set to launch the first direct flights between Papua New Guinea (PNG) and China next month, the airline said on Thursday.
 
Air Niugini's acting CEO Tahawar Durrani told Xinhua that tickets are already open for bookings from this week.
 

Bank of PNG announced in its 2018 March quarter economic report that the country’s foreign exchange inflows have improved significantly.
 
The BPNG attributed it to improvements in the international commodity prices and the recommencement of production at two major mines and the LNG project following the Highlands earthquake in February.
 
BPNG Governor Loi Bakani stated in the report that in July, foreign exchange inflows had reached the levels of 2017 mainly reflecting higher production by OK Tedi and Porgera mines and the LNG project, coupled with the commencement of corporate tax payments to the Government by the operator of the PNG LNG project.
 

​Trukai Industries has reached a significant milestone in its pursuit towards developing a local rice industry for PNG.
The company yesterday launched a new product into the market, starting a new domestic commercial production for Trukai Industries and PNG.
Called “Trukai Hamamas Rice”, the rice is 100 per cent home-grown in Rangiampum village in Umi, Morobe Province.

The Fiji trade commissioner to Papua New Guinea, Navitalai Tuivuniwai, will visit Bougainville this week in a bid to strengthen trade and investment.

He said there were enormous opportunities for developing long term partnerships and investments between Fiji and Bougainville.

​The Agriculture and Livestock Minister, says Papua New Guinea is planning to replace imported rice with its own by 2025.

Rice is among cereals and meat which dominate PNG's food imports from 2012 to 2016, amounting to K560m and K410m respectively.

Minister Benny Allan says the government is promoting food self-sufficiency and import replacement on food items, to sustain PNG's food security and reduce import bills.

It can be described as one of the oldest calls by the local manufacturing community but buying PNG made continues to be at the centre of any successful local economy well reliant on imported products.
The call was reiterated by the CEO of the Manufacturers Council of PNG, Chey Scovell, as the most important one when it comes to national economic growth and prosperity in the country.

“Too often we see so many of our people walking around buying low quality imported products or even reasonable quality products,” Mr Scovell.

Philippines Airlines will increase its flights per week to four from Port Moresby to Manila in September.
Airline area manager Israel Fontanilla said there were three flights from Port Moresby to Manila and this would be increased to four.
“The flights are on Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays,” Fontanilla said.
“As of Sept 4, Wednesday will be added to the number of flight days to Manila.
“This will allow more connections for passengers going to the Philippines and other destinations via Manila.”

Businesses in Papua New Guinea lose more money on security unlike other countries. The amount of money businesses spend in the country on security measures can be as high as their average profit margin, a survey has found.

​According to the 2017 Survey of Businesses in Papua New Guinea, the private sector reported that the cost of protecting their assets and losses from crime amounted to 10 per cent of their total costs.
The industry reporting the highest cost was tourism.