5 Jul 2005

Bougainville still not secure enough to attract investors

10:20 am on 5 July 2005

An economic taskforce says the Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville must be more secure if its to attract business investors.

The taskforce's publicity officer, Robert Atsir, says they have approached investors, but the Government first needs to make two key moves.

These are the removal of the moratorium on mining, which effectively gives Bougainville Copper Ltd a monopoly on exploration.

Mr Atsir says its removal would allow others to come in.

And he says potential investors need further assurance the province is now safe to operate in.

This despite the views of the United Nations Observer Mission, which ended its term last week, and police, that law and order has been restored.

"Purely from a business angle. From the politicians angle and the United Nations mission angle, yes those things have been accomplished to a certain degree of satisfaction. But for people who are going to invest a large amount of money into any business project they need more that."