Cocoa board in B’ville hands responsibility to department

THE functions and powers of the Cocoa Board of PNG (CBPNG) in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville will now be transferred Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) through Department of Primary Industries (DPI).
This followed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the ABG and CBPNG in Kokopo, East New Britain, on Tuesday.
More than 10 technical working groups from different sectors of the ABG arrived in Kokopo last week together with ABG acting chief secretary Shadrach Himata to sign the MOU and create a network.
Himata said the purpose of the joint technical working group was to facilitate mutual dialogue and communication between the ABG DPI and cocoa board in the establishment of the Bougainville Commodities Regulation Authority (BCRA) with specific focus on the first sector which was the cocoa industry.
He said the MOU was a follow up on a workshop done in Bougainville last December with the objective to determine transitional arrangement leading up to the referendum. “We were planning towards the referendum to have this transitional arrangement of how best we can work with cocoa board colleagues in terms of implementing the Department of Primary Industry and cocoa in one, to the people,” he said.
Himata said the MOU was for 18 months and after which a more binding agreement for could be entered.