Pacific Magazine > Magazine > March 1, 2003

Regional Briefing

Regional Briefing

Business

High copra prices prompt export boom
Copra export has been resumed by the Solomons with a 1000-tonne shipment to Europe in February after a five-year break caused by local political unrest and low prices. Agribiz, one of 11 licensed copra exporters in the recent deregulated industry, plans a series of other shipments this year, according to owner Paul White, with the second of 400 tonnes from Noro in Western Province.

In Papua New Guinea, a climb in copra prices to more than 700 Kina (US$179) a tonne is reviving copra production and export. Paul Jamieson, of Copra Products Limited, said production at Bougainville and New Ireland has increased significantly, with the company’s mill at maximum capacity. Villagers around the Gazelle Peninsula in East New Britain have resumed the working of previously unattended plantations. However, former East New Britain Chamber of Commerce president, David Loh said production and transport costs were absorbing most of the improved price.

Beefing up the beef industry
Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Edward Natapei says 2003 is the year for reviving and improving the country’s beef industry. Vanuatu has a history of exporting high quality beef to such highly demanding markets as Japan. But output has waned in recent years. The target now is to develop 300-500 hectares annually for new and improved pastures and provide training in pasture and production development techniques.

Tonga proceeds with litigation
Tonga’s government has begun litigation in the United States to sue Jesse Bogdonoff, a former investment adviser, for US$26.5 million entrusted to him for investment in what proved to be shady front companies.

Fiji’s first overwater bungalow resort
Australian owners of Sonaisali Resort near Nadi, Fiji, plan to invest F$40 million (US$19.6 million) in building a 142-room five-storey resort at Likuliku Cove, Malolo Island, off Nadi. Chief executive Peter McGrath said the construction of what would be Fiji’s first overwater bungalow-style resort would begin as soon as all approvals were received.

More Samoans in NZ
Half of New Zealand’s 225,600 Pacific Islanders population are Samoans, according to the census. Figures are: Samoans 115,000, Cook Islanders 52,600, Tongans 40,700, Niueans 20,100, Fiji Islanders 7000, Tokelauans 6200, and Tuvaluans 2000. Some people identified to more than one ethnic group had been counted in both, the census said. More Pacific Islanders are New Zealand-born: Cook Islanders and Niueans 70 percent, Tokelauans 66 percent, Samoans 58 percent and Tongans 53 percent.

New Caledonia’s visitor arrivals up
New Caledonia had 103,933 tourists in 2002—3.4 percent more than in 2002, according to the French Overseas Institute. The average hotel occupancy rate was 64 percent. The figures are part of New Caledonia’s latest statistical indicators for the year 2002, compiled by the French Overseas Institute.

Dash-8 for Air Marshalls
Air Marshall Islands has leased a Dash-8 prop-jet, which has twice the passenger capacity of its 19-seater Dornier 228 for use on domestic flights.

Aloha sends SOS to Cook Islanders
Aloha Airlines, of Hawaii, has asked the Cook Islands to help fund the promotion of flights between Honolulu and Rarotonga it opened last December. Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce president, Ewan Smith said the Honolulu service could add NZ$10 million a year to domestic turnover. Local businesses have contributed to the promotion costs with the aim of reaching a NZ$100,000 target.

2 Airbus for Air Pacific
Air Pacific has ordered two Airbus A330-300s with options for a further two. The first is due to go into service in 2005.

Air Pacific joins its Australian partner Qantas as well as Air Caledonie International and Air Tahiti Nui in the move to the European-built Airbus aircraft. America’s Boeing Company had previously dominated in the Pacific Islands region. Meanwhile, Air Pacific is immediately bolstering its fleet by leasing two modern Boeing 747-400 aircraft from Singapore Airlines, to replace its older Boeing 747-200. They are due to arrive in April and June.

Fishing to go big
Six newly-built tuna fishing boats have joined the fleet of Tahiti Nui Rava’ai, underscoring French Polynesia’s determination to make fishing a major industry. The territory’s President Gaston Flosse told the naming ceremony for the boats: “Our objective...is to make the fishing industry one of the biggest wealth of French Polynesia.

New law could affect Kiribati cruise
Lucrative cruise liner stopovers at Tabuaeran island in Kiribati could be affected by American law changes now before Congress, Pacific Business News reported. The Norwegian Cruise Line ships go to Tabuaeran from Honolulu because American law bars foreign-flagged cruise ships from undertaking cruises that go only to American ports. But that could change if Congress passes a law designed to create local jobs and allow Hawai’i-only cruises, Pacific Business News reported. Tabuaeran, known as Fanning Island in colonial times, is part of the Northern Line Islands, which are south of Hawai’i in Kiribati’s east.

Beetle hits Samoan copra
The menace of the Rhinoceros beetle has resurfaced, hitting the Samoan copra industry, the country’s Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said. Surveys showed Rhinoceros beetle numbers increased rapidly over the past three years, official Pili Enosa said on Savai’i island, where a major control project is underway. The re-emergence of the beetle as a menace comes at a time when coconut processing is again becoming an important part of Samoa’s economy.

Air Nauru faces problems
Nauru, battling financial and political crises, now faces problems maintaining its vital link with the world: Air Nauru.

President Bernard Dowiyogo has appealed for international help to keep the government-owned airline’s lone remaining aircraft, a Boeing 737-400, operating. A lease payment of more than $A4.5 million was due on the plane

President Dowiyogo said the previous government of President Rene Harris had missed aircraft lease payments in August and November, adding that if the payment wasn’t made soon it was likely the US Exim Bank would exercise its rights upon the full $US13 million owing on the aircraft.

He said that if Taiwan had not helped Air Nauru meet lease payments in the past, the airline would not be flying now. He appealed to Nauru’s friends to come to the rescue.

Politics

Court rejects Sope’s appeal
Vanuatu’s Supreme Court has rejected a request by former prime minister Barak Sope (pictured) for the restoration of his parliamentary seat. This he forfeited after his 2002 conviction for fraud brought him a three-year jail sentence. Chief Justice Vincent Lunabek said the presidential pardon Sope received after only four months of imprisonment had no effect on his conviction.

Landmark ruling hailed
A French court, in a landmark ruling, has declared that the 1999 death from leukaemia of Francois Janas was due to his exposure to radiation during his service aboard a naval supply ship engaged in nuclear weapon test at Moruroa atoll during 1969/71, the French news agency, AFP reported. It said his daughters should be paid a full invalidity pension. The ruling has implications in support of other military veterans and civilians who claim their presence at the test site afflicted them with more than double the normal rate for cancer. Military veterans and civilians have hailed the decision.

France to decide territories’ future
A joint meeting of the French upper and lower legislative chambers is due in March to debate proposed amendments to the French Constitution that would confer more self government on French Polynesia and other territories. President Jacques Chirac said the amendments would transfer powers from the central government to “communes, departments and regions” so as to end “paralysing sides of our centralised state tradition and the inefficiencies it implies,” Ocean Flash news service reported. One consequence could be to change the status of “French territory” to “French Overseas Country”. The amendments would need the support of at least three-fifths of both chambers. Meanwhile, French Polynesia sent its territorial vessel “Tahiti Nui” in February to Fiji and the Solomon Islands with US$500,000 worth of food and water tanks for cyclone victims.

Eluay’s widow wants a Jayapura trial
Yanneke Ohee Eluay, widow of murdered West Papua pro-independence leader Theys Eluay, told the Jakarta Post she wanted the trial of seven Indonesian army Kopassus (special force) soldiers accused of killing her husband moved from Java to Jayapura, the territory’s capital, “so that Papuans can see for themselves who are the culprits.” The newspaper said no official explanation was given why the court martial was being held in Java instead of Jayapura, where all witnesses and material evidence were. His wife has twice refused summons to Java to give evidence, saying she didn’t accept army assurances of security for her.

Vanuatu to defy Indonesia
Vanuatu has indicated it may still allow pro-independence Papuans to open an embassy in Port Vila despite threats from Indonesia to sever diplomatic ties. Vanuatu’s government spokesperson Daniel Bangtor said the Papuan independence movement’s request is in line with Vanuatu’s long-standing support to territories seeking independence. Support from Vanuatu goes back before its own independence in 1980, he said.

FSM’s fending off challenges
The Federated States of Micronesia is still beating off attempts to block Pohnpei, its seat of government, from becoming the location of the new Pacific tuna stock conservation commission. Fiji and other rival contenders to host the agency are claiming the selection of Pohnpei was only a “recommendation”, Radio Australia reported. Dr Sandra Tarte, of the University of the South Pacific in Fiji, a specialist in tuna politics, said a conference that gave the green light for establishing the agency agreed to “recommend” Pohnpei as the headquarters, but the decision needed confirmation when the commission was actually established. The trouble with Pohnpei was that it was expensive and difficult to reach.

Sunia’s nephew heads intelligence unit
American Samoa Governor Tauese Sunia’s nephew has been appointed acting commander of a new Criminal Intelligence and Investigations Bureau in the Department of Public Safety. Va’a Sunia had previously headed the Criminal Investigations Division. The governor’s brother, Aitofele Sunia, is American Samoa’s Treasurer; his sister, Vaoita Sotoa Savali, is Director of Public Information; her husband, Sotoa Savali is Secretary of Samoan Affairs; and another nephew, Fiti Sunia, is Attorney General

Slade gets ICC job
Samoa has scored international success with lawyer and diplomat Neroni Slade elected a judge of the new International Criminal Court. It comes as Fiji suffered the humiliation of its former chief justice, Sir Timoci Tuivaga, being forced to pull out during balloting because he was not getting enough votes. 61-year-old Slade is currently Samoa’s United Nations ambassador and ambassador to the United States. Meanwhile, Fiji judge and former politician, Jai Ram Reddy, has been appointed a permanent judge to the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda.

Police nab Cooks drunk drivers
One out of every three people stopped and tested by Cook Islands Police using new Alcolmeters had been drinking before driving, police figures show. Commissioner Pira Wichman said with Operation Lion conducted recently, 144 people were stopped and tested. Out of this, 24 were not allowed to drive further because of the amount of liquour they had drunk. It was the first time Cook Islands police had used the breathalysers despite the fact there is no legislation in place yet.

Mt Hagen bans plastic bags
Shops and businesses in the Papua New Guinea Highlands city of Mount Hagen are banned from using plastic bags. City Manager Pious Pim said: “There will be a total ban on plastic bags in the city. Plastics have become horrible and very unhealthy for the general public when not disposed properly after use.” The city’s move comes amidst the growing concern in the Pacific Islands region over the environmental impact of the constantly growing use of plastic bags.

Palau’s first woman diplomat
Palau has appointed its first female ambassador. Anita Suta will be the nation’s first envoy to the Philippines.

The neighbouring Philippines, she said, will be tapped as Palau’s trade partner and a potential tourist market. Suta studied for four years in the Philippines, where she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in home technology at the University of the Philippines Los Banos.