Prime Minister Hon. James Marape, MP promoted Papua New Guinea as an investment destination of choice in the emerging markets of the world.
Speaking as part of the panel for the session on Where are we with emerging markets? a side meeting at the 2026 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Prime Minister Marape highlighted how Papua New Guinea’s economy keeps growing amidst geopolitical tensions in the Pacific Region.
The Prime Minister thanked the WEF for giving PNG the opportunity to be a part of the emerging markets conversation.
He said Papua New Guinea is placed in the middle of East and West, with our cultural affinity to the east and our democratic style of government with the west.
Prime Minister Marape said the government of PNG tries its best to walk the fine line, with the foreign policy of ‘Friends to all and enemies to none’, developing a fine balance with how we relate as an emerging economy in the last five years after COVID.
As a result, he said, “We have posted above 4 percent growth consistently for the first time in the last five years and kept inflation below the running average for the last 50 years.”
“Diversifying away from our traditional anchor economy area in mining and petroleum and shifting to the non-resource sector economy,” Prime Minister Marape said.
The Prime Minister informed the WEF that PNG right now has two of the biggest oil and gas developers operating in the country, TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil.
“ExxonMobil has operated our biggest LNG project since 2008 with first export in 2014. Seventy (70) percent of the $22 billion project was bank financed and recently, that has been retired six months earlier,” Prime Minister Marape informed.
He further informed that in his view, emerging markets are where fresh capital is, capital that knows no boundaries and that capital will flow elsewhere in cases where markets are squeezed or economic focus is restricted.
The Prime Minister concluded by advocating for investing in emerging markets in South East Asia and the Pacific, where Papua New Guinea is located.