Paul Barker, from the UK, came to Papua New Guinea in January 1978 and was based in the Highlands for five years with the Primary Industry Department. He headed the economics, marketing and statistics branch of the Primary Industry Department until 1988, when he was appointed special economic sector adviser in the Prime Minister’s Deptarment, a post he filled until mid-2004. He was technical adviser with the European Delegation in the Solomon Islands until January 2006, and then appointed Executive Director of the Institute of National Affairs, an independent policy think tank based in Port Moresby, which addresses a wide range of economic and social issues affecting the country (and manages CIMC, which facilitates government-private sector and civil society dialogue in PNG).