Saturday, March 09, 2013

Interest piques for Papua New Guinea trade mission

Nick Dalton
Friday, March 8, 2013

A FAR North trade mission to Papua New Guinea next month is expected to be the biggest yet with the organisers promising actual business deals will take place.
Cairns Chamber of Commerce president Anthony Mirotsos said it was not designed as "a talkfest, back-slapping or cocktails".
"Interest is very significant and we will be providing members with more sophistication than before," he said.
"It will be bigger and better and we want to walk away with transactions, businesses doing deals.
"I am very confident that we will be able to produce some tangible fhbusiness."
Chamber chief executive officer Deb Hancock said the chamber had yet to advertise the mission but about 12 businesses had already "knocked on the door".
"It is not just a toe in the water," she thsaid.
Ms Hancock told members and guests at the monthly lunch meeting yesterday that the business delegation to Lae and Port Moresby from April 11-16 was to be "mutually beneficial" for both regions.
"We've told the chambers in PNG that we're not taking business away from your businesses," she said.
Two trips were planned this year and the April mission would include a promotional group involving the State Members for Cairns, Barron River and Mulgrave, Gavin King, Michael Trout and Curtis Pitt, Advance Cairns, Ports North and the Cairns Regional Council as well as another group which would target specific industries to fhproduce  "the best possible contracts".
"The intention is to focus on strategic industry-based opportunities," she said.
"In Lae, this will be agribusiness industry development, such as horticulture, fishing, fish processing, marine and allied services, along with small to medium enterprises ," Ms Hancock said.
"In Port Moresby, the focus will be on small and medium enterprise development, along with the Pacific Games."
Ms Hancock said a Chinese company had provided some artificial grass for a Games project that had melted in the heat.
"We in Cairns have tropical expertise and can supply products suitable for tropical climates," she said.
Ms Hancock said there had been a high level of collaboration between regional organisations in Cairns to ensure that the trip would be a success.
She said expressions of interest would be called soo

No comments:

Post a Comment