Highlands

Papua New Guinea

Oil

call

Papua New Guinea has called on oil producing countries in the Asia-Pacific region to join forces to gain entry to the world’s elite club of oil producing nations. PNG’s Prime Minister, Paias Wingti, made the call in an address at the so-called Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Tax Issue conference in Singapore. Wingti says

individual countries of the region may not make a tremendous impact in OPEC board -rooms but together they could be a sizable force.

PNG joined the region’s oil producers with its first oil project at Kutubu which started producing in July last year. The

Chevron-operated

Kutubu in the South Highlands Province cur rently produces 129,000 barrels a day.

Wingti says his govern ment wants to invite and

enter into partnerships with other firms which could build and operate a profitable refinery in PNG to keep money on-shore, help develop PNG’s industrial base and create jobs. ***

Highlands

threat

In Papua New Guinea, threats by the Eastern Highlands MPs to withdraw from the Wingti government over Cabinet

appointments, is gaining momentum. Eastern Highlands

Premier, Robert Atiyafa, claims eight of the nine MPs in government are being taken for a ride by the government after using their numbers to get into power and secure its mandate.

Atiyafa says the Wingti government has dumped unimport ant ministerial portfolios on two of the MPs. The Premier says anless the Wingti government reshuffles the cabinet and allocates economic ministries to Eastern Highlands MPs, its dght MPs with the Wingti government should withdraw their lupport. ♦*♦♦♦*♦♦*♦**

Short-term

/Isas reintroduced

3 apua New Guinea has reintroduced the issuing of short-term ;ntry visas on arrival in the country. Tourists and business aeople, with the exception of journalists, can now obtain a 10-day single entry visa on arrival at Port Moresby airport.

Wingti: looking for partners