The handover ceremony of digital equipment to the PNG National Museum & Art Gallery.

On 30 May 2025, the handover ceremony was held regarding the Project for the Improvement of Digitization Equipment of the Papua New Guinea National Museum and Art Gallery (MNAG).

The guest speaker at the ceremony was Minister for Tourism, Arts and Culture, Honorable Belden Namah, who thanked the Government of Japan and JICA for the generous support to PNG NMAG and encouraged the management and staff to utilize the equipment effectively.

This equipment was procured with the support of Japanese Grant Aid Scheme to support PNG NMAG to commence with the important exercise of digitizing valuable PNG artefacts that have been carefully stored away within the museum. The equipment includes scanners, cameras, computers, LCD screens, projectors, sound mixers, projectors, etc.

PNG has over 800 languages and boast a rich cultural heritage; hence the role of digitizing valuable information and artefacts is important to teaching future generations about the rich Papua New Guinea history. Digitizing the artefacts at the museum is also a crucial part of the museum’s attempt to transform the outlook of the museum and be able to educate and engage its visitors in a more interactive way.

JICA anticipates seeing the continued retraining of NMAG staff and other relevant government agency staff on the use of these digital equipment. Including other government agencies in trainings on the use of these equipment will create future opportunities to further utilize the equipment to create more e-learning content to enhance visitor knowledge and appreciation about PNG history and the significance of each artefact on display.