PNG calls for new trade deal with NZ, rejects PACER Plus pact

Papua New Guinea is urging New Zealand to engage in negotiations for a bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), arguing that current trade policies do not meet the unique economic needs and aspirations of PNG.

Papua New Guinea’s Trade Minister, Richard Maru, says that if New Zealand values its 50-year relationship with PNG, it must commit to this new partnership.

Speaking to PMN News, Maru says that after 50 years of diplomatic relations between the two nations, it’s time to reset the relationship and elevate it to the next level.

Maru made it clear that PNG is not interested in the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Plus (PACER Plus), a regional trade and development agreement involving Australia, New Zealand, and several Pacific Island countries, including Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, and Tonga.

“We have now got the draft text for a CEPA agreement with the UAE [United Arab Emirates] and New Zealand is the next country we'd like to negotiate an agreement with,” Maru says.

“Not a PACER Plus, we're not interested in PACER Plus, we are interested in a bilateral comprehensive economic partnership agreement. We would like to think that the New Zealand government, we hope they'll be open to our approach and they'll be ready for us to enter into negotiations.”

Richard Maru and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the NZ High Commission in Port Moresby. Photo/PMN News/Ala Vailala

The PACER Plus agreement eliminates tariffs on most goods traded among its members, simplifies customs and trade procedures, and offers development assistance to help Pacific nations implement it.

But Maru argues that the PACER Plus agreement benefits Australia and New Zealand more, neglecting the development priorities and economic realities of larger countries like Papua New Guinea.

“We are bigger than New Zealand in population terms, in landmass terms, the endowments we have.

Papua New Guinea has a land mass of 462,840 square kilometers and an estimated population of 11.78 million. Photo/PMN News/Ala Vailala

“We want to talk about an agreement that caters for our needs, our requirements especially when you consider that trade is in New Zealand's favour 10 to one.

“So we want an agreement that looks at, for example, we want a certain number of Papua New Guineans to be employed in New Zealand. Why are you only allowing Fijians and the Asians to arrive in truckloads and the rest of the Pacific? What about us?”

Maru also calls for more regular and structured engagement from New Zealand, saying he meets every year with Australian government ministers and would like to see similar arrangements with New Zealand.

“I think New Zealand can step up. We are ready to step up. Our view is New Zealand, yes, it's a smaller country. It can't do everything.

Listen to Richard Maru's full interview here

“We know that. It should just concentrate on the areas it's got strength in, like the markets for our mothers, which I completely support.”

In light of new opportunities with players like the UAE and the European Union (EU) ready to negotiate bilateral Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements, Maru’s message to New Zealand is to leverage its strength.

“You don't have to spend a bigger budget, but you can be smart in your spending,” he says.

“Use knowledge and wisdom to make the right decisions. But I think after 50 years of our relationship, if we don't reset the relationship and take it to the next level using a comprehensive economic partnership agreement to drive our economic partnership into the future, then I don't think we're serious.”