A DELEGATION of government officials from China is in the country to meet with sector representatives inagriculturee andfisheriess to progress a high-level dialogue. Prime Minister Hon. James Marape has had with Chinese President Xi Jinping last year.
The 5-team delegation is led by Mr Ma Youxiang, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, and includes two director generals – one from the agriculture sector and the other from the fisheries sector within this department.
The visit to Papua New Guinea is the direct result of a one-on-one dialogue Prime Minister Marape held with President Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Meeting in Bangkok at the end of 2022.
The delegation met with heads of the commodity boards of PNG for an update on PNG’s cash crops and then with representatives of the National Fisheries Authority.
At the meeting last Friday (14.04.23) with commodity boards, Acting Secretary for Agriculture Dr. Nelson Simbiken said:
“We are privileged to have with us this delegation who are having discussions to find a way forward for agriculture and fisheries development for Papua New Guinea.
“The team is examining the areas of productivity improvement for our commodity crops and the commercialization of our products so these can enter the Chinese markets.
“China is one of our biggest trading partners, but there are still issues of market restrictions and bio-security concerns that are hampering many more of our products going into China.
“The visit by Deputy Minister Ma and his team is special and important to PNG because from this, they will establish technical cooperation with us to look into the areas of production efficiency, agribusiness, technology needs, and will work with PNG to develop the mechanization that can assist our production, and also move into the downstream processing space.
“At the meeting, we gave our country and sector status, as well as an update on the challenges we are facing and how we can maximize on the market opportunities that China has for us.
“Key areas we will be working on through this technical cooperation is to increase the capabilities of our commodity sectors by improving processing and value adding, increase in the provision of services to small industries, looking at the land tenure system on how this can be unlocked for investment and development, developing a trade system in the agri-business space so that the agribusiness and small industries can improve their quality for markets in China, and to look into research needs in the improved varieties and technologies for the small industries.
“This is the opportunity that the government is giving to Papua New Guineans through its connecting PNG by roads in the rural areas, and going rural using agriculture as a platform, as well as the move toward downstream processing.
“We want to get every Papua New Guinean to be involved. Throughagriculturee, we want to restructure the production system in the country from subsistence to commercial farming.
“With the focus right now on downstream processing, and commercialization and promotion of SMEs, this great opportunity is opening up for equal participation of Papua New Guineans – men and women, young and old – to come into these spaces,” said Secretary Simbiken.
The next step in this process of meetings will be the drafting and signing of a bilateral communique to establish and outline the technical cooperation upon which the two countries will progress the efforts in Agriculture and Fisheries sectors further.
China has huge markets for agriculture, fisheries, and forestry products that PNG has not fully satisfied, and this is the beginning of expansion in PNG’s renewable sectors under the Marape-Rosso Government’s key policy focus areas.
The delegation, from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, includes Mr Ma Youxiang, Deputy Minister; Mr Sui Pengfei, Director General (Agriculture); Mr Liu Xiazhong, Director General (Fisheries); Ms Hu Yiyun, Acting Division Chief; Mr Yang Guangyue, Chief Officer; and Ms Tan Xiyuan, Interpreter.
The visit started on Wednesday, 12th April, and ends early this week.
