Two primary tasks for the Autonomous Bougainville Government in 2024 are progressing Bougainville’s Independence Mission and reopening the Panguna Mine.
Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama said that 98 per cent of Bougainvillean’s desire for an independent sovereign state of Bougainville, was firmly established by the results of the 2019 Bougainville Referendum.
President Toroama said the government and the people must now work together to empower Bougainville’s socioeconomic capacity to support its independence endeavour.
“The Panguna Mine is a multi-billion-kina resource that has remained dormant for almost 40 years now,” Toroama said.
“Its mineral resources have the potential to transform the lives of Bougainvilleans through high-impact infrastructure development projects and improve and increase the human resource capacity of our people.
“The fate of the Panguna Mine became entwined with Bougainville’s quest for independence when the Bougainville revolution began in 1989. Our Late Revolutionary Leader Francis Ona incentivized the mine as the key to funding Bougainville’s Independence when we took up arms against our oppressors,” he said.
The post-referendum consultations between the National Government and the Autonomous Bougainville Government are still progressing.