Papua New Guinea and Australia have resolved a diplomatic dispute as a “miscommunication” and a travel ban on Australians visiting the Autonomous Region of Bougainville has been lifted.
PNG’s prime minister Peter O’Neill last month condemned a Federal Budget announcement that an Australian diplomatic post would be set up in Bougainville.
Mr O’Neill said there was no consultation.
A visa ban was ordered to stop Australians visiting Bougainville, which was in the middle of elections there.
A meeting between Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Mr O’Neill in Japan last week resolved the issue.
"Prime Minister O'Neill reaffirmed Papua New Guinea’s position that the Government does not approve of the establishment of an Australian diplomatic mission on Bougainville,” PNG foreign minister Rimbink Pato said in a statement.
“We recognise that there was a serious lapse in communication and we can now move on from this issue.”
The statement quoted a letter from Ms Bishop to Mr O’Neill saying that there was a “miscommunication” over an expanded Australian presence in Bougainville and in “the way the announcement has been reported and portrayed”.
“Australia fully respects Papua New Guinea’s sovereignty, including over the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, and recognises the sensitivity with which this important issue must be treated.”
Ms Bishop’s office has confirmed the substance of the letter.
A screenshot of the budget papers clearly announcing the "diplomatic post" in Buka (PNG). Source: SBS
