ppppoorrttuunniiISSUEtt 1 • 2013yy Business news, reviews and overviews from the IPA BOX IN THE MD’s IN [email protected]. In future NEWS issues such feedback will be published in the Let’s Hear It column in the newsletter. For example, we welcome your views on Forum strengthens the Online Business Registration Program, business relationship which we are about to roll out. IPA has between PNG and taken considerable steps to see this project come into fruition. We are confident online Indonesia registration will benefit thousands of businesses. Good business relations between You can read more information about the project PNG and its neighbour Indonesia in this issue of Opportunity. were given a boost with the success Unsure about business procedures or registration of a business forum held recently in processes? If so, email your query and we’ll Jakarta. The aim of the Forum was answer it in the Question Time section. to strengthen economic cooperation In the News this issue we take you on two and bilateral ties between the two Ivan Pomaleu successful trade missions, one to Indonesia, countries. It is with great pleasure which coincided with Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill’s official state visit to Indonesia The forum coincided with the official state visit of we bring you the first and the second to the Solomon Islands. Prime Minister Hon. Peter O’Neill at the invitation issue of Opportunity. We also welcomed a business delegation from of his Indonesian counterpart His Excellency Belgium seeking opportunities in investment President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who As the name suggests, Opportunity will bring and trade. made his official visit to PNG in 2010. to your inboxes valuable information about In Opportunity Knocks we feature Yha Hauka Papua New Guinea’s trade and investor arena. IPA led a delegation from PNG’s private sector Kopi Limited from Morobe Province who seeks representing 46 companies from the con- The fresh new format is designed to foster a joint venture partner to develop its business struction, oil & gas and other prominent PNG open communication between IPA and the to assist its rural coffee growers. industries as well as state-owned enterprises. PNG business community and your advisers. I encourage you to take a short break to read We encourage you to share your views on During the forum both countries signed eleven this first issue of Opportunity. business and investment or any of IPA services. agreements comprising three treaties and eight Please feel free to email your comments to Ivan Pomaleu, Managing Director Memoranda of Understanding in a range of key areas, including education and training, tourism Don’t risk de-registration. and extradition. & Lodge annual returns In addition a number of business-to-business Traps MOUs were signed in the areas of oil and on time! gas, banking and finance, telecommunication Registered PNG companies are required to If you can’t get your return in before the due and water. submit annual returns to the Companies date and need an extension of time, lodge a A signing ceremony also took place between Office within the IPA on time or risk being Form 55 with the Companies Office. the PNG Chamber of Commerce & Industry de-registered. On time lodgment also saves When completing your return make sure the (PNGCCI) and the Indonesian Chamber of you having to pay a late fee of K150 on top information it contains is consistent with Commerce & Industry (KADIN), which was of the K50 lodgment fee. records held by IPA. witnessed by Prime Minister O’Neill, government Irrespective of who owns the company or The Companies Office publishes in the media ministers and their Indonesian counterparts. how long it’s been operating, the Registrar of a list of companies that face de-registration for IPA presented a paper on “Doing Business in Companies may issue a notice to remove a not meeting their legal requirements. This PNG” following a presentation by the Indonesia company from the register if the company’s information is also available on the IPA website Investment Board (BKPM) on “Doing Business annual return is 6 months late or if the company www.ipa.gov.pg fails to submit documents required by the Office. in Indonesia”. ■ Stay off that list by lodging your De-registered companies are not permitted annual return on time! to conduct businesses in PNG. More News stories next page INVESTMENT PROMOTION AUTHORITY... PAGE 1 continued IN THE NEWS Belgians on the look-out for business in PNG A business delegation from Belgium visited Papua New Guinea recently on a fact-finding mission to seek out local investment and trade opportunities. Former Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to Australia, His Excellency Patrick Renault led the nine- member Belgian delegation, accompanied by First Secretary, Political and Economic Affairs, New Zealand High Commissioner to PNG Marion Crawshaw (left) and Carolyn Blacklock from IFC (right) David Jordens, and two trade present Ivan Pomoleu, Managing Director of IPA, with funding for the Online Registry Program. Commissioners from the Walloon and Flemish regions of Belgium. Countdown to Online Registry The Belgian group included Besix International, Very soon Papua New Guinean New Zealand Companies Office in assisting Eloy Water, Dredging International, Australia businesses will be able to register PNG to make the transition to the new on-line environment. This assistance will be invaluable (DEME), Jan De Nul and Sarens, companies their businesses from the comfort with interests in building and construction, the as NZCO is a world-recognized leader in of their own premises. business registration. financial sector, water and sanitation Thousands of companies from PNG are set to engineering, energy and heavy industries, “The level of expertise NZCO possesses is benefit from the much-anticipated Online dredging and hydraulic engineering. invaluable to us. As well as the suitability Business Registration program, which the of the software application to our situation, IPA arranged a one-day seminar in Port Government is introducing through the the experience and expertise NZCO has in Moresby for the Belgian investors to establish Investment Promotion Authority. managing a business registry office simply business contacts with leading PNG IPA’s Online Lodgement System will allow clients cannot be replicated by any private party,” organisations, including the Bank of Papua New to lodge company forms, file documents or do said Mr Pomaleu. Guinea, National Capital District Commission, company searches online from anywhere The New Zealand Aid Program is providing grant Department of Petroleum and Energy, without coming to the IPA front counters. funding to support the engagement of the New Department of Transport, National IPA has been developing the program with Zealand Companies Office. NZ Companies Office Development Bank, PNG Ports Corporation, assistance from the IFC (a member of the World support will facilitate a thorough User Acceptance WaterPNG, Independent Public Business Bank Group) and the New Zealand Aid Program. Testing process and will assist IPA staff conduct Corporation, Department of National Planning “This new online registry is an exciting and much its own User Acceptance Testing with the aim and Monitoring, PNG Power Ltd, Department of needed step for PNG business owners, who find of ensuring that the new registry system is fully Treasury, Eda Ranu and Port Moresby Chamber the current registration process cumbersome and operational from the day it is implemented. of Commerce and Industry. a barrier to making their business formal and “New Zealand is very pleased to provide training Ambassador Renault also met with PNG registered,” said Ivan Pomaleu, the Managing so that this proven software can be used in Government leaders including Governor Director of IPA. PNG,” said New Zealand High Commissioner, General Sir Michael Ogio, Prime Minister Hon. The New Zealand business registry software Marion Crawshaw. Peter O’Neill, Minister for Foreign Affairs Hon. developer Foster Moore Limited has been “There is enormous potential here for small and Rimbink Pato, Minister for Commerce, Trade contracted to develop the online registry. The medium sized businesses and I am confident and Industry Hon. Richard Maru and Minister for software is based on the software currently used that this online registry will lead to more PNG Environment & Conservation Hon. John Pundari. by the NZ Companies Office (Ministry of entrepreneurs turning their good ideas into Belgian investments in Papua New Guinea Business, Innovation and Employment). successful businesses.” include the Galley Reach Plantation, the biggest IPA made the decision to procure a New Customers without internet access will still be rubber plantation based in Central Province, and Zealand-based system because New Zealand is able to lodge their documents in hard copy Jan De Nul, a sub-contractor for Ok Tedi Mining consistently ranked the top of the World Bank’s at the IPA front counter for some time until Limited, currently carrying out dredging works Doing Business rankings. As well, the chosen the registry process is fully integrated into an along the Fly River. ■ solution gives IPA access to the expertise of the online facility. ■ More News stories next page INVESTMENT PROMOTION AUTHORITY... PAGE 2 continued IN THE NEWS LEGAL UPDATE Simplified business names registration and easier-to- understand company law for SME entrepreneurs are now a step closer, following the recent endorsement