The Minister for International Trade and Investment has made it clear to the Australian Government that Papua New Guinea (PNG) will not be part of PACER Plus, alluding to trade imbalances between the two countries. Minister Richard Maru made that known in a recent meeting with the new Australian High Commissioner to PNG, His Excellency John Feakes, stating that PNG is not interested due to the unfavorable trade arrangement with Australia. The Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations or PACER Plus is a regional development-centred trade agreement designed to support Pacific island countries to become more active partners in, and benefit from, regional and global trade, as well as to provide commercial benefit to Australian businesses. “I want to make it very clear to the Australian Government that PNG is not interested in the PACER Plus because Australia hardly buys from PNG with trade skewed in Australia’s favor for decades,” said Minister Maru. He said PNG’s exports to Australia in 2022 stood at AU$1.6 billion with over 98% being gold and other precious metals whilst Australia's exports to PNG stood at AU$95.9 million. “So as far as we are concerned, it is pointless to negotiate a PACER Plus Agreement,” said the minister. Instead, Minister Maru preferred to have better trade arrangements that would benefit both countries. “We would rather go into a new comprehensive economic trade and investment bilateral partnership with Australia which also captures other areas of benefits to PNG given such a vast trade imbalance.” That is why Maru said the PNG-Australia Bilateral Trade Assessment is a priority activity for PNG with the final report to be released soon by Centre of International Economics. “We will also be officially announcing our new Honorary Trade Commissioner to Australia at the end of this month in Brisbane,” Maru said, highlighting other avenues to increase trade and investment. “We want to find potential Australian investors through our Honorary Trade Commission to come and invest in our non-extractive sectors like forestry, fisheries, agriculture, and the tourism sector,” added Minister Maru. Despite the issues pertaining to PACER Plus highlighted by Maru, he stated that Australia is still an important trade partner to PNG, and that being so, better trade arrangements should exist between the two countries. “Australia is PNG’s largest trade partner with bilateral trade of over AU$6 billion in 2022 and is a major investor in PNG with investment valued at over AU$24.8 billion in 2022. We are very grateful for this,” said Minister Maru.