The newly appointed Papua New Guinea Minister of Bougainville Affairs says his focus is to ensure the Peace Agreement is properly implemented.
First time MP, Father Simon Dumarinu, was put in the new Peter O'Neill cabinet earlier this month.
The Bougainville Peace Agreement, which was signed in 2001, is due to reach its conclusion with a referendum on possible independence from PNG in June of 2019.
The autonomous Bougainville government had complained for several years about the PNG government dragging its feet over funding that it was obliged to by the Peace Agreement, and this was holding up development.
Minister of Bougainville Affairs, Simon Dumarinu Photo: Sunday Chronicle
Father Dumarinu said it's his aim to sort this out.
"As we are coming into it with the national government of Papua New Guinea and what we can do about speeding up the implementation of the Bougainville Peace Agreement on the ground, building up how we can engage with Papua New Guinea to a good transition to the implementation of the referendum on the ground."