The finance minister in Papua New Guinea's autonomous Bougainville government, Albert Punghau, says he is confident the question of compensation for the effects of the civil war can be satisfactorily sorted out.
Compensation for damage and other issues is seen as a key matter ahead of any opening of the huge Panguna mine, which Bougainville views as a solution to its economic woes.
The Me'ekemui faction has long touted a demand for ten billion kina in compensation as its price for any re-opening, while Mr Punghau says the ABG has claims going back to a requests for compensation made before the peace process began.
He says his government is yet to develop a policy on how to handle the claims.
"I, as minister for finance have been tasked by the government to look again into those claims so that we can meet also the government of Papua New Guinea and also maybe the government of Australia, maybe CRA [Rio Tinto, the majority owners of Bougainville Copper Ltd] or their people so that we could now try to address these compensation issues that are in front of us."
