GUANGZHOU, China, Nov. 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A news report from South:

Few places on Earth feel as wild as Papua New Guinea. Spread across more than 600 islands, the Pacific nation is home to extraordinary cultural and biological diversity. But some of what comes from its waters is now travelling much further—all the way to dinner tables in China.

For local seafood exporter Tony Lan, China has transformed the scale of his business. His company buys wild-caught mud crabs from local fishermen before flying them to Chinese cities including Guangzhou.

"We used to sell a few hundred kilos a week to the local market," Lan said. "But once we started exporting crabs to China, business just exploded. Now we're moving 20 to 30 tons a week."

The impact has spread beyond the company itself. Lan said families involved in the crab trade have been able to build better homes and buy televisions and generators.

But the connections between Papua New Guinea and Guangdong go far beyond seafood.

In Port Moresby, 21-year-old Maureen works as a receptionist for a Chinese company. Finding work is far from guaranteed. "A lot of degree holders, they don't have jobs," she said. "But you see me, I don't have a degree, but I have a job."

Her story leads back to Butuka Academy, the school she graduated from. Built with support from Shenzhen under its sister-city relationship with Port Moresby, the academy now accommodates around 3,000 students. Maureen says the computer skills she learned there—including Microsoft applications, web skills and Excel—are the same ones she now uses at work.

Another connection has taken root in soil.

Juncao, a grass-based agricultural technology developed in China, was introduced to Papua New Guinea in the 1990s. Initially used for mushroom cultivation, it has since found applications ranging from livestock feed to fibers and bioenergy. Over three decades, the technology has spread to more than 9,000 farming households, benefiting around 30,000 people.

For Georgina, whose family was among the early adopters, Juncao has shaped both family life and career. After struggling to find a job for two years, she returned to mushroom farming and helped local farmers find markets. That experience eventually led to her current work with a Shenzhen company exploring new uses for the grass.

"I want everyone to know about Juncao, the benefits of it," she said. "It's part of me."

For National Capital District Governor Powes Parkop, such exchanges are part of Papua New Guinea's wider development journey.

"Being a rural-based, traditional economy, now trying to become a modern economy, we can only learn from China," Parkop said. He also stressed the importance of APEC for smaller economies, saying PNG does not always have the means to engage with economies across the Pacific individually, "and we have the opportunity at APEC."

PR Newswire Asia Ltd.

PR Newswire
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