PNGIMR DELEGATION VISIT NARI
A delegation from PNGIMR consisting of the Institutes Director Professor Peter Siba and Finance Manager Mr Samson Akunaii visited the National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI) on the 25th of January this year (2007).
The PNGIMR delegation were warmly welcomed by NARI’s Director General Dr Raghunath Ghodake and his Financial Controller, Ms Tesilia Karai.
The purpose of the visit was to enhance the current cordial relationship that exists between the two sister research organisations and to see how best common problems that exists in the institutions could be addressed.
Professor Peter Siba and Mr Samson Akunaii of PNGIMR met with Dr Raghunath Ghodake and Ms Tesilia Karai of NARI at the NARI head office in Bubia outside Lae city, Morobe Province.
During their meeting, one of the immediate and most pressing matters discussed was the difficulties in getting GST claims reimbursed by the Internal Revenue Commission.
It was noted that the delay in getting GST reimbursed was putting a lot of unnecessary pressure on the liquidity levels of donor funded projects.
It was discussed that the best way to pursue this matter on refunds was by engaging a licensed Tax agent who would be able to dedicate his/her time and effort to vigorously pursue these claims on behalf of the two institutions and secure release of refund cheques.
The Institutions concerned would upon receipt of the refund cheque(s) then pay the agent(s) a commission for his/her services rendered.
Mr Akunaii however cautioned that PNGIMR has been restricted by AusAID being one of their major donor partners, from engaging outside agents due to some problems they had in the past, which implicated certain officials of the Department of National Planning and Monitoring.
He also mentioned that the Internal Revenue officials have informed him that due to a number of fraudulent GST claims the chances of getting any claims reimbursed via agents would sometimes be difficult.
The option of jointly employing a dedicated junior administrative assistant to be based in Port Moresby to look after this GST matter was also discussed.
The meeting however decided to leave the task to Mr Akunaii of PNGIMR and Ms Karai of NARI to put together and exchange an information paper, which would be taken up and discussed with the respective Directors before any firm action is decided.
Other issues on staffing emoluments, including work place insurance policy for all levels of staff, payment of accrued LSL and other entitlements upon expiry of contracts to minimize financial liabilities in the long run, Group Life Insurance Plans for expatriate contract officers, medical evacuation/emergency cover etc were discussed at length.
The meeting agreed that the respective HR officers from the two organisations needed to establish dialogue in order to share experiences, ideas and look at practical options with minimum financial outlays needs to be explored.
Another important matter arising from their meeting was the creation of the Science Research and Technology Council of Papua New Guinea. Professor Siba, said that under the current set up this function was being administered through the Office of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology.
It was however felt that it would be more appropriate if the function of Science Research and Technology operated separately from Higher Education.
Professor Siba further stated that the formalities for the establishment of the Science Research council is in place but requires the government to breath some air into it to get it up and moving forward.
Dr Ghodake, who is a member of the Higher Education Board with Professor Siba as his alternative both agreed to keep an eye out for any developments on the board level.
The PNGIMR and NARI being sister organisations have not had very much interaction in terms of joint research.
It was generally discussed at the meeting that a good area to re-ignite this connection was on the nutritional front where the former Deputy Director of PNGIMR Dr Peter Heywood and Dr Carol Jenkins left off.
It was agreed that since the two left, a lot had happened including the trends in nutritional status and disease patterns in Papua New Guinea. Dr Ghodake also stated that it would be interesting to see collaboration on nutritional factors against major diseases like HIV/AIDS.
The meeting generally agreed to get respective officers from the two institutions to interact more for the mutual benefit of the institutions as well as to learn from each other.
| © Copyright 2007 PNGIMR. | IMR Nius is produced by IMR's Communications Department. Contact Us |