Radio Australia reports the pledge to maintain peaceful relations was made in Port Moresby by PNG Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare, following last week’s talks with Bougainville recently elected president, James Tanis.
Tanis came to office last month, succeeding President Joseph Kabui, who died in June last year.
The new president is a former Bougainville Revolutionary Army commander, who left the rebels to join the peace process. For his part, he has promised to work closely with the PNG government to end lasting tensions.
Bougainville spent nearly a decade in the 1980s and 1990s fighting a civil war with PNG after central Bougainville landowners shut down the massive Panguna copper mine.
The incident sparked a secessionist movement which sought to establish Bougainville as an independent state.
Sir Michael has urged the Bougainville administration to remove all remaining weapons from the island, and urged Bougainvilleans to reconcile outstanding sources of conflict among themselves.
For his part, Tanis has promised that road blocks in Bougainville’s No-Go Zone areas, which are still controlled by rebels, will be removed to allow people to move more freely.
