West Papua encouraging eco-friendly investment: official

Manokwari, West Papua (ANTARA) – The West Papua provincial authority and development partners are committed to collaborating for encouraging eco-friendly investment and youth businesses in the region, an official said during a seminar here, on Friday.

“Young entrepreneurs and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are essential to develop the regional economy and to reduce the unemployment rate. MSMEs resilience to survive economic pressures have also been proven,” assistant II for economic and development affairs of West Papua Province, Melkias Werinussa, said during the seminar.

Investment, entrepreneurship, and MSME empowerment in the region is in line with the West Papua government’s mission to improve regional market competitiveness and attract investment to the region, he observed.

“We encourage businesses to engage in eco-friendly investments in the province without discouraging said natives, as mandated by our special regulation on investment in West Papua,” Werinussa noted.

He then urged the regional authorities to plan data collection of investments and entrepreneurs in the province before drafting a proper regulation to address investment issues and ensure environmentally friendly investment in the region.

Meanwhile, West Papua regional Research and Development Agency head Charlie Heatubun said that collaboration with development partners to map investors and MSMEs in the region is essential for compiling a government database to control regional economic development and achieve a green economy.

“At present, regional investors and the MSME database are not unified as not all regional institutions have compiled the database. We will harmonize the database on a unified system to ease the regional authority to control and assist regional investors and companies,” Heatubun informed.

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The West Papua government is currently endeavoring to encourage the development of eco-friendly local commodities to reduce the deforestation rate in the province and to promote it as an environmentally sustainable province, he noted.

“By unifying investors and MSMEs data, we can control and assist all businesses in West Papua to promote local commodities, enhance local economy, and elevate residents’ quality of life,” he said.

Source: ANTARA News