Briefs
Business
Tonga
A civil aviation agreement has been signed between Royal Tongan Airlines and Royal Brunei Airlines, described by one commentator as “an unlikely partnership.” Both expect to benefit in terms of routes and services, with the Tongan flag carrier gaining lease access to Royal Brunei aircraft in order to enhance its own international services, while the Bruneians expect to gain access to routes held by Tonga, including a service to the U.S. Commenting on the deal, King Taufa‘ahau Tupou IV said that the agreement “will open up new possibilities for improved air services in the Pacific, especially for tourists from Europe and Japan.” His Majesty said Royal Brunei is willing to lease Royal Tongan a Boeing 757-200 to help it out of the difficulties encountered with its leased 767, and that it also has plans to use a Boeing 767 aircraft on projected Tonga-Honolulu-Los Angeles return flights. He added that this could also be used to upgrade flight connections from Tonga and Samoa to Europe. The two monarchies have agreed that sharing the aircraft with Samoa is a distinct possibility. Pacific Islanders contemplating using Royal Brunei services might take note that in keeping with the “tenets of Islam” the airline does not serve alcoholic beverages, although passengers who are not Moslems may provide their own.
—ND
Marshall Islands
Marshall Islands business people say they are feeling the effects of the country being on a worldwide money laundering blacklist. “We’re feeling some effects of the blacklisting,” said local businessman Jerry Kramer, chief executive officer of the largest construction company in the country. Because the Marshall Islands is on the Financial Action Task Force’s blacklist, even the branches of U.S.-based Bank of Guam and Bank of Hawaii are considered “foreign”, so getting wire transfers has been a problem, Kramer said. In at least one instance, money had to be mailed instead of being wired, he said. Former Minister of Finance Tony deBrum said that investments have run into problems since the blacklist went into effect in 2000. Some banks won’t handle money transfers to the Marshall Islands because “they don’t want to be tainted.”
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In response to concerns of local business people about the money laundering blacklist, Marshall Islands banking commissioner Alfred Alfred, Jr. says he believes the Marshall Islands has a good chance of getting off the blacklist later this year. A FATF review team is expected to visit the Marshall Islands in late September in advance of a full FATF meeting the following month, according to Alfred. “If the review goes well,” he said “we’ll be off the list.”
—GJ
Papua New Guinea
Speaking at a conference in Canberra on the World Bank’s structural adjustment program for PNG, Josepha Kanawi, Commissioner of Land Titles in Port Moresby, surprised her listeners by telling them that landowners could become companies to solve the PNG Government’s land crisis. “In Papua New Guinea, 97 percent of the land is owned by indigenous families or tribes, leaving less than 3 percent to the government, which is not enough for governing,” she says. If land-owning families became corporations they would be in a position to sell or lease land to the government, thus helping to solve the government’s severe shortage. Kanawi, who is completing a Master of Law degree at Southern Cross University in Australia, said that many senior people in the PNG public service felt that land “needs to be mobilized,” but the challenge was to find a way of motivating the traditional customary landowners to release land for state development. “Land itself can really make and undo governments,” she added.
—ND
Samoa
Samoa is expecting 13 cruise ship visits in 2003, a nearly 100 percent increase over this year. P&O Cruises and Princess Cruises have confirmed a total of 13 scheduled visits that will bring thousands of visitors to Apia. Discussions are underway with an three other cruise ship companies for additional visits in 2003.
—FS
The government-owned Polynesian Airlines will re-inaugurate flights to Niue later this month, the airline said in a joint statement with Niue’s Premier Young Vivian in early September. The confirmation comes weeks of negotiations between the airline and Vivian. Polynesian Air discontinued Niue service more than eight years ago, due to the airline’s financial problems and weak passenger demand. When air service resumes in late October, Polynesian Airlines will operate Auckland-Niue-Apia on Mondays, with a southbound flight on Mondays arriving in Auckland on Tuesdays.
—FS
Cook Island – Hawaii
Hawaii’s Aloha Airlines has announced that it will begin twice-weekly, non-stop service between Honolulu and Rarotonga, Cook Islands, on Dec. 9. Aloha Airlines will use Boeing 737-700 airliners, its mainstay aircraft for trans-Pacific flights. The Honolulu-Rarotonga service will cover the 2,900-mile flight in about six hours. Aloha’s flights will depart Honolulu on Mondays and Fridays at 9 a.m., and arrive in Rarotonga at 3:18 p.m. that day. The return flights will depart Rarotonga on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 11 a.m., and arrive in Honolulu at 5:15 p.m. Aloha said it would operate the twice-a-week service until April 2003. Aloha plans to operate a once-a-week service from May to September, the low season for Cook Islands travel during the Southern Hemisphere winter.
—FKT
American Samoa
Texas-based garment factory J & G Trybus Corporation is exploring the possibility of setting up operations in American Samoa and hiring a local workforce. The company manufactures men’s high quality suits, sport coats and dress slacks. It also owns and operates factories in China and Mongolia as well as a production facility in Italy. Speaking from the company’s home-office in Dallas, Texas Gary Trybus, president of the company, said he is aware of the labor problems at the former Daewoosa factory in American Samoa and those in Saipan, which captured Congressional attention and the attention of the international media. If the company is successful in securing a factory in Pago Pago, says Trybus, “we won’t be interested in importing foreign workers. In our China factory we use Chinese workers while some of the management or training personnel are Americans and Italians. In the Mongolia factory, we brought in local management and workers," Trybus says.
—FS
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—SW
Guam
To help provide necessary services to victims of Typhoon Chata‘an, Mobil Oil Guam Inc. contributed $25,000 to the Guam Chapter of the American Red Cross and Mobil Oil Micronesia donated $10,000 to the Salvation Army to aid victims of landslides in Chuuk State in the Federated States of Micronesia.
—SW
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—Contributors: Norman Douglas, Giff Johnson, Fili Sagapolutele, Scott Whitney, Floyd K. Takeuchi
