STREIT Committee holds Initial Meeting

The inaugural Project Steering Committee (PSC) meeting of the EU-PNG Development Corporation Programme called Support to Rural Entrepreneurship, Investment and Trade (STREIT) PNG was held yesterday in Port Moresby.

The meeting was co-chaired by the Department of National Planning and Monitoring (DNPM) and the European Union (EU) and saw multi-stakeholder participants including the Department of Agriculture and Livestock, National Fisheries Authority, Cocoa Board, Department of Commerce and Industry, Department of Communication Information Technology and Energy and the United Nations (UN).

Secretary for DNPM, Mr Koney Samuel, said the STREIT PNG Programme is a massive investment for the country and one that will have significant impact on the local economy if progressed effectively.

“As the national agency responsible for coordinating and monitoring the implementation of the Medium Term Development Plan (MTDP) III, and as the co-chair of the STREIT PSC, DNPM will closely monitor the progress of STREIT and help ensure the achievement of the targets and objectives that will be set during the 1-year inception phase that has now commenced”, Mr Samuel said.

This PSC meeting triggers further work in scoping and detail designing of actions under the project.

Mr Samuel also welcomed the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN as the appointed lead agency to oversee the implementation of the project with a number of its UN sister agencies, and in close collaboration with our national and provincial sector agencies.

FAO Chief Technical Advisor, Anthony Bennett, said the overall objective of the project was about increasing sustainable and inclusive economic development of rural areas. This will be done through two strategic objectives; value chain development and enabling environment.

Secretary Samuel on behalf of Government, encouraged FAO to involve all responsible sector agencies in the implementation of this programme and use the knowledge and expertise and provide necessary capacity building to local partners.

The STREIT Programme is one of the EU-PNG Development Cooperation Programmes. The STREIT Programme is worth €85 million (K365 million) under 11^th EDF cycle.

The STREIT Financing Agreement was signed between PNG and EU on 24 June 2019. Following an extensive 2-year long consultation and design process, the signing marked the start of the project operational period.

The STREIT PNG PSC was established to oversee and validate the overall direction and policy for the implementation of the project as per good Government, EU and FAO practices. The Committee is jointly co-chaired by the EU Delegation and the NAO/DNPM.

“We wish all of you and your organizations, success in the implementation of this important project towards the achievement of the goals we have set for PNG, and the people of the Greater Sepik region in particular,” Mr Samuel said.