The World Indigenous Business Forum (WIBF) is coming to Port Moresby this year, having already secured platinum sponsors in the Special Economic Zone Authority (SEZA) and the Department of International Trade & Investment (DITI). Both the SEZA & DITI have come onboard to sponsor the WIBF PNG 2023 with K300, 000 each. WIBF will run from the 24th to the 26th of October in Port Moresby, where 1, 000 business delegates are expected to attend, with 500 of these attendees being Papua New Guineans. Minister for International Trade & Investment, Richard Maru said the National Executive Council has approved for the Marape-Rosso Government to host and co-fund WIBF this year. “This will be the biggest event that we will host as a country after APEC 2018. Hosting of this event will not only highlight our support for the world indigenous business, but it will also provide an opportunity for us to showcase our Papua New Guinea as the most indigenous country of the world with over 800 languages and a thousand tribes.” He said this will also be an opportunity for our local business to build international networks, create partnerships and also look for markets among all the countries that will attend the forum. “We will use the opportunity to promote Papua New Guinea as an investment destination, a tourism destination, a safe place to do business, open up opportunities for us to build networks to find export markets for our products to the world, and also help us to encourage indigenous businesses from all around the world to come and invest in PNG.” He called on all indigenous SMEs and large companies to prepare well and take full advantage of this one-off opportunity to market their products and services to the delegations from around the world who will be coming to attend this forum. Prime Minister James Marape is expected to formally launch the hosting of the WIBF PNG 2023 on Thursday 10th August, where the highlight will be the release of a promotional video to promote this across the country and the world. Minster Maru is inviting the government entities and the private sector to sponsor WIBF PNG 2023, which will cost about K7 million to host. The Government of Papua New Guinea had taken the lead by approving K2 million to fund this event.