PGK

$NA

Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad:

$NA

Market value of publicly traded shares:

$4.863 billion (2005)

Currency (code):

kina (PGK)

Currency code:

Exchange rates:

kina (PGK) per US dollar - 3.03 (2007), 3.0643 (2006), 3.08 (2005), 3.2225 (2004), 3.5635 (2003)

Communications
Papua New Guinea

Telephones - main lines in use:

60,000 (2007)

Telephones - mobile cellular:

300,000 (2007)

Telephone system:

general assessment: services are minimal; facilities provide radiotelephone and telegraph, coastal radio, aeronautical radio, and international radio communication services domestic: access to telephone services is not widely available; combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular teledensity is 6 per 100 persons international: country code - 675; submarine cables to Australia and Guam; satellite earth station - 1 Intelsat (Pacific Ocean); international radio communication service (2007)

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 8, FM 19, shortwave 28 (1998)

Radios:

410,000 (1997)

Television broadcast stations:

3 (all in the Port Moresby area; stations at Mt. Hagen, Goroka, Lae, and Rabaul are planned) (2004)

Televisions:

59,841 (1999)

Internet country code:

.pg

Internet hosts:

3,422 (2008)

Internet Service Providers (ISPs):

3 (2000)

Internet users:

110,000 (2006)

Transportation
Papua New Guinea

Airports:

578 (2007)

Airports - with paved runways:

total: 21 2,438 to 3,047 m: 2 1,524 to 2,437 m: 14 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 1 (2007)

Airports - with unpaved runways:

total: 557 1,524 to 2,437 m: 10 914 to 1,523 m: 58 under 914 m: 489 (2007)

Heliports:

2 (2007)

Pipelines:

oil 264 km (2007)

Roadways:

total: 19,600 km paved: 686 km unpaved: 18,914 km (2000)

Waterways:

11,000 km (2006)

Merchant marine:

total: 21 by type: bulk carrier 2, cargo 17, petroleum tanker 2 foreign-owned: 6 (UAE 6) (2008)

Ports and terminals:

Kimbe, Lae, Madang, Rabaul, Wewak

Military
Papua New Guinea

Military branches:

Papua New Guinea Defense Force (PNGDF; includes Maritime Operations
Element, Air Operations Element) (2008)

Military service age and obligation:

16 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription (2008)

Manpower available for military service:

males age 16-49: 1,481,417 females age 16-49: 1,385,040 (2008 est.)

Manpower fit for military service:

males age 16-49: 1,080,466 females age 16-49: 1,092,040 (2008 est.)

Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:

male: 62,865 female: 61,102 (2008 est.)

Military expenditures:

1.4% of GDP (2005 est.)

Transnational Issues
Papua New Guinea

Disputes - international:

relies on assistance from Australia to keep out illegal cross-border activities from primarily Indonesia, including goods smuggling, illegal narcotics trafficking, and squatters and secessionists

Refugees and internally displaced persons:

refugees (country of origin): 10,177 (Indonesia) (2007)

Trafficking in persons:

current situation: Papua New Guinea is a country of destination for women and children from Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, and China trafficked for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation; internal trafficking of women and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation and involuntary domestic servitude occurs as well tier rating: Tier 3 - Papua New Guinea does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so; the current legal framework does not contain elements of crimes that characterize trafficking; the government lacks victim protection services or a systematic procedure to identify victims of trafficking; the government did not prosecute anyone in 2007 for trafficking; Papua New Guinea has not ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol (2008)

Illicit drugs:

major consumer of cannabis

This page was last updated on 18 December, 2008

@Paracel Islands

Introduction
Paracel Islands

Background:

The Paracel Islands are surrounded by productive fishing grounds and by potential oil and gas reserves. In 1932, French Indochina annexed the islands and set up a weather station on Pattle Island; maintenance was continued by its successor, Vietnam. China has occupied the Paracel Islands since 1974, when its troops seized a South Vietnamese garrison occupying the western islands. China built a military installation on Mischief Reef in 1999. The islands are claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam.

Geography
Paracel Islands

Location:

Southeastern Asia, group of small islands and reefs in the South China Sea, about one-third of the way from central Vietnam to the northern Philippines

Geographic coordinates: