Committee finds more work still to be done

AN update on the Bougainville referendum by Bougainville affairs bi-partisan committee has indicated that there is more work to be done to improve social and economic standards of communities and people in Bougainville.
Chairman William Powi said the government had taken into consideration issues that still needed to be addressed before the referendum.
They included weapons disposal, transfer of functions of government authority from the national Government headquarters in Waigani to ABG, implementation capacity, administration capacity, governance capacity, internal revenue capacity and reconciliation of processes between the ABG and PNG people, he said.
Powi said the Bougainville conflict was a painful experience for Papua New Guinea.
“The Bougainville Peace Agreement signed in 2001 is one of the most important legal documents where PNG government and Bougainville started to build lasting peace with each other,” he said.
“The committee was working in line with the agreement to exercise its purpose. That includes overseeing the implementation of BPA and visiting and consulting stakeholders in Bougainville.”