PRIME Minister Hon Manasseh Sogavare made sincere thanks to the Peace Building Fund and the United Nations for their timely support to assist his Government.

He made the statement during the special session of the United Nations Peace Building Commission (UN PBC) in New York on Wednesday this week.

“The UN Peace Building Programme assists my Government in its efforts to build sustainable peace.

“For example, the Programme assisted in the process of drafting a reparation framework.

“The UN Peace Building Programme has also facilitated peace dialogues in a number of our provinces.

“The Programme will also be facilitating a National Dialogue, which I will host, on the 19th–20th of this month to consolidate the issues that are priority to our people in our peacebuilding efforts,” the Prime Minister stated.

He then told the UN PBC that the outcome of this National Dialogue will help his Government prioritize and implement the recommendations by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that was established in 2008 and submitted its report in 2012.

“Chair and members of the Commission, the road ahead in our country’s transition towards sustainable peace will be challenging.

“We need to address the underlying causes of the conflict. As stated earlier, these include governance and socioeconomic development issues.

“A major challenge, for example, is making land accessible to economic development while at the same time protecting our people’s traditional rights to land.

“It is also about ensuring that people receive fair returns from developments on their land.

“This is challenging especially given that about 87% of land in Solomon Islands is customary land, regulated by customary systems of tenure,” Prime Minister Sogavare said.

He then added that the Solomon Islands needs to find the best way to integrate customary systems of tenure with the demands of modern economic development.

This, he added, is important because land has been a central factor in conflicts in Solomon Islands.

Another factor that impedes economic development and the effective delivery of services, the Prime Minister Hon Manasseh Sogavare added and therefore increasing opportunities for conflict, is corruption.

“My Government has responded to this by drafting an Anti-Corruption bill, accompanied by a National Anti-Corruption Strategy.

“The bill will be tabled in parliament in the near future,” Sogavare added.