govt plans jsb meeting

By WINTERFORD TOREAS

THE long-awaited Joint Supervisory Body (JSB) meeting between the Government of PNG and the Autonomous Bougainville Government is set to take place next month.
This is according to the PNG Government chief secretary Manasupe Zurenuoc.
Mr Zurenuoc proposed that this meeting should take place between October 10-23.
He said he would now hold discussions with Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to set the exact date for the proposed timeframe for the JSB meeting to convene.
The proposed dates were set following a preliminary discussion on the Referendum and Autonomous arrangements review of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville held in Buka last Thursday.
This one-day discussion was held between the PNG Government officers led by Mr Zurenuoc and their counterparts from the ABG.
Mr Zurenuoc also clarified that the JSB meetings were not held towards the end of last year due to the political instability faced by PNG.
This was following the unceremonious dumping of Sir Michael Somare and the election of Peter O’Neill as the new Prime Minister.
The last JSB meeting was held in February last year.
The JSB is made up of leaders from both the PNG Government and the
ABG. It is through this meeting that important issues like the drawdown of powers and functions from PNG to the ABG are discussed.
Meanwhile, the announcement by Mr Zurenuoc for the JSB meeting to convene is a welcome sign for many positive changes to take place in Bougainville.
Many Bougainvilleans have been criticising the ABG leaders, saying there was lack of progress towards full autonomy taking place. They said this was because there had been no JSB meeting held since early last year.