Path to digital economy in Papua New Guinea

United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) held two virtual information sharing sessions on the Request for Applications (RFA) on “Transitioning local micro and small enterprises to an aggregator e-commerce platform in Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tonga and Vanuatu as a covid-19 economic response strategy” on Friday, 13th August and Wednesday, 18th August 2021.

The sessions were held to share details and process of the RFA and to respond to any queries from legally interested, established and potential applicants that wanted to know how they can support local entrepreneurs and microenterprises in the country to migrate their businesses online.

UNCDF’s PNG Country Lead, Mr. Jagdeep Dahiya told the participants that it was a great initiative to start supporting e-commerce in the country.

“We will support multiple projects as long as it is making an impact and putting PNG on the path to digital economy. We expect partners to contribute not only in cash but in kind too like qualified staff and giving them time,” he said.

Participants of the sessions were representatives from Trainertrac; Emstret Holdings Limited; Asian Development Bank: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; Department of ICT, Bank of South Pacific, Datec and the Department of Agriculture and livestock.   

This initiative was part of UNCDF and UNDP’s socio-economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the region.