Bougainville to have economic development ministry

11:18 am on 22 June 2015

The Bougainville President John Momis, re-elected in a landslide last month, is expected to name his new cabinet today and it will include a new economic services ministry.

President of the autonomous Bougainville government, John Momis.

President of the autonomous Bougainville government, John Momis. Photo: RNZI

The new parliament will be required to prepare the autonomous Papua New Guinea region for a vote on possible independence, to be held before 2020.

Mr Momis says a critical element of this process is to ensure the region's economy becomes viable and this has prompted the new portfolio.

"We want to put a lot of emphasis on the responsibility of the autonomous government to raise revenue and I think one of the best ways of doing that would be to have a ministry wholly and solely responsible for economic generation of revenue for economic development."

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