Overview of PNG

Papua New Guinea is home to five million people, comprising Melanesians, Papuans, Micronesians and Polynesians with dark skin, fuzzy hair and friendly smiles. It has a culture that is rich and diverse, just the same as its vast flora and fauna.

It is located to the north of Australia and is bordered by Indonesia to the west and the Solomon Islands to the east. It comprises a mainland and a number of islands. There are more than 800 distinct languages in this unique country but Hiri, Motu and Pidgin are the most widely used. English is the official language in education, businesses and government.

PNG became fully independent on September 16, 1975 and has a freely elected democratic government. General elections are held every five years.

The head of State is Queen Elizabeth II, represented by the Governor General, who is appointed by the National Parliament. The national legislature consists of a unicameral National Parliament. The National Parliament is comprised of 109 seats, with 89 elected from open electorates and 20 from provincial electorates. Members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms. The National Executive Council, presided over by the Prime Minister, has executive powers. The Prime Minister is chosen by majority vote in parliament and appointed by the head of state.

PNG has a diversity of political parties and alliances and no one political ideology dominates. As a result, no single party has ever achieved an absolute majority in parliament, and coalition governments are the norm. Since independence, there have been six general elections, with the most recent elections taking place in July 2002. This election resulted in the formation of a coalition Government led by Sir Michael Somare, as Prime Minister (and leader of the dominant party in the coalition, the National Alliance). Sir Michael is a former and the inaugural Prime Minister of PNG and is a respected elder statesman of PNG politics.

PNG became the 142nd member of the United Nations on October 10, 1975 and is also a member of the British Commonwealth. It is also a member of other global organizations including the World Trade Organisation, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation and has an observer status at the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The country has a vibrant and multifaceted economy with two distinct systems operating side by side. The vast majority of our people live in a traditional, non-monetary barter economy that existed long before European colonisation began. Co-existing with this is modern economic system based on mining, petroleum, fishing, forestry and agriculture. PNG’s main exports are gold, copper, oil, coffee, tea, copra, oil palm, forest and marine products.

PNG is richly endowed with natural resources but development of these resources has been hampered by rugged terrain and the high cost of developing infrastructure. Given the rugged terrain, infrastructure is concentrated around major projects and urban areas. Despite this, PNG has good soils, abundant rainfall, considerable existing and prospective mineral and petroleum resources, forestry and fisheries. Economic activity can be divided between the mineral and non- mineral sector – the former – principally oil, gold and copper contribute a significant portion of the country’s GDP.

Papua New Guinea's unit of currency is the Kina which is divided into 100 toea.