27 Mar 2021

Experts canvass options for an independent Bougainville

From , 6:01 am on 27 March 2021

As thoughts of independence take a firmer hold in the minds of Bougainvilleans they are receiving plenty of advice on how to grow an economy.

Once one of the wealthiest parts of Papua New Guinea Bougainville has been largely dependent on funding from the national government since the end of the civil war, a generation ago.

The region is about to begin consultations on independence after a referendum in 2019 was strongly supportive of such a move.

But it needs a viable economy if it is to prove to PNG MPs that it can survive on its own.

Don Wiseman has been looking at a recent assessment by PNG's National Research Institute, so what did the researchers come up with Don?

The waterways of Buka

The waterways of Buka Photo: AFP