Government Briefs
Government Briefs
Marshall Islands
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is investing $179,000 in a six-atoll pilot seaweed growing project in the Marshall Islands, according to Resources and Development Minister John Silk. The plan also aims for the Marshall Islands Marine Resource Authority and the Marshall Islands Development Bank to develop a revolving trust fund that would enable local communities to initiate small-scale fisheries-related activities.
American Samoa
The U.S. Department of Labor has approved new minimum wages for American Samoa. The minimum wage increased 2 percent for the canneries in September. More than 4,000 people work at the canneries, with the majority of them from neighboring Samoa. The previous cannery minimum wage rate was $3.20. Outside of the tuna canneries, local minimum wages increased by 1.45 percent on October 1, and will further rise 1.45 percent next October 1. Previous minimum wage for government workers was $2.69 per hour. After the increases, minimum wages in American Samoa will range from $2.57 an hour (in the miscellaneous activities industry) to $4.09 an hour (in the shipping and transportation industry).
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Samoa
The Samoa Supreme Court ruled recently that Le Anapapa Laki is the official winner of the Fa’asaleleaga No. 2 District seat following the country’s general election earlier in the year. At the same time, the court declared MP Letoa Seto Pau, who had claimed victory, the loser and found him guilty of bribery. Letoa, a member of the ruling Human Rights Protection Party, was also ordered to pay about US$1,000 to Le Anapapa.
Pacific
The governments of Samoa and Cook Islands signed an open skies agreement in September similar to an agreement signed between Samoa and Tonga at the Forum in Nauru. Samoa’s Prime Minister Sailele Malielegaoi and Cook Islands Prime Minister Dr. Terepai Maote signed the agreement during the Pacific Islands Forum Aviation Ministers meeting held in Samoa’s capital of Apia. The new agreement does not mean the Samoa government owned airline, Polynesian Airlines, will expand to the Cook Islands right away. Polynesian’s acting chief executive officer John Fitzgerald said that the airline is looking at servicing the Cook Islands as a possibility “when conditions allow but at the moment everything is on hold.”
Pohnpei
The Pohnpei Visitors Bureau hosted a tourism community awareness week at the end of September. The week featured a host of activities for the community, including a bar tending and a culinary skills competition for hotel, restaurant, and bar employers, with the winners getting a two week training attachment in a hotel or restaurant in Guam, courtesy of the Guam Hotel and Restaurant Association and Continental Airlines.
