Regional Briefing
Briefs - Busines & Politics
Business
Erica leaves people homeless
Tropical Cyclone Erica, with winds estimated to exceed 250 kph caused heavy damage (pictured) and at least two deaths in New Caledonia in March. Up to 3500 people were left homeless. The Ocean Flash news service said the worst damage was in the north-western region of the main island, the Grande Terre. Damage to electricity and telecommunications infrastructure, water supplies, buildings, crops and schools was considerable. The French government made an immediate relief grant of 300,000 Euros and said more aid would follow.
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Inco’s chair to decide Goro’s future
The fate of New Caledonia’s controversial Goro nickel mining is expected to be decided next month, Goro chairman, Pierre Alla said. Goro-Nickel is a major investment by Canadian nickel giant, Inco. Although it was estimated to cost around US$1.4 billion when works started last year, the project was suspended last November after a fresh estimate placed the costs at US$2 billion. Inco, which owns 85 percent of Goro-Nickel, decided to “pause” the project for six months, pending the outcome of a review. Inco chairman, Scott Hand is scheduled to visit New Caledonia early April to get a first-hand assessment of the situation and then probably make a decision, Alla told a meeting of private sector, traditional, institutional and union representatives and stakeholders.
Incentives to foreign investors
Papua New Guinea Government will offer incentives to foreign investors prepared to build fish processing factories in the country’s maritime provinces, according to Fisheries Minister Andrew Baing. He said Momote Airport in Manus might be opened to international flights for the export of tuna and other marine products. Baing added that he was seriously considering cutting the number of access agreements that allow foreign fishermen to fish in Papua New Guinea waters. Foreign fishing companies might be told that a condition of their fishing licences was that they also open on-shore facilities to process part of their catch, he said.
Depopulation threatens Cooks
A former mayor of Atiu Island, Roger Malcolm, told the Cook Islands Party conference in March that depopulation was threatening the island’s viability, with the resident population dropping in the last 20 years. Atiu and other outer islands were “dying” and might have to be “closed” in the next 20 years, Malcolm warned. Many outer islanders have moved to Rarotonga, the centre of government, while the number of Cook Islanders now living in New Zealand and Australia far exceeds the country’s total resident population of about 18,000 people.
EU aid to begin flowing
The 20-year Cotonou Agreement, which will bring 14 Pacific and 60 African and Caribbean states tens of millions of Euros in aid from the European Union, was officially ratified at a March ceremony in Brussels. Ratification means that aid will begin flowing from April 1.
Garment owner convicted
The South Korean owner of a garment factory in American Samoa has been convicted of employing scores of mainly young Asian women under conditions of virtual slavery. Kil Soo Lee, 52, was convicted by a United States federal court in Honolulu on charges of conspiracy, extortion, money laundering and 11 counts of involuntary servitude.
Vietnamese and Chinese workers were brought to American Samoa to work in the Daewoosa Samoa garment factory in 1999 and 2000. Lee is due to be sentenced in June and could be jailed for 10 to 20 years on each charge.
AirCalin’s new Airbus
New Caledonia’s international airline, Air Calédonie International (AirCalin) has added a second Airbus A-30 to its fleet.
The new aircraft arrived three days before Tropical Cyclone Erica battered the French Pacific territory.
The plane will be dedicated to the Nouméa-Tokyo route as part of a code-share agreement with the French airline, Air France. Air France will now operate the Tokyo-Paris route, while AirCalin takes care of the Nouméa-Tokyo leg.
Fiji/WWF sign deal
Fiji’s tourism ministry has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the conservation organisation, WWF South Pacific Programme. The MoU recognises the importance of a forthcoming ‘strategic environmental assessment of Fiji’s National Tourism Plan (1998-2005). Current projections are for the value of the industry to increase from FJ$485 million to a F$1 billion by the year 2007. Until now there has been no assessment of the likely environmental and social consequences of this expansion. Tourism, unless properly managed, can bring a host of environmental problems such as pollution, habitat alteration and over-exploitation of natural resources.
US$15m for migration costs
Washington has offered US$15 million a year to help America’s Pacific Islands deal with the growing costs of migration from Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.
The Honolulu Advertiser, which reported the announcement, said the funding would cover the next two decades.
An existing Compact of Free Association, signed in 1986, allows islanders from the Marshalls and Federated States of Micronesia to move freely within the United States and its territories.
Hawaii, Guam, the Northern Marianas and American Samoa are forced to absorb the costs for the social, medical and educational needs for those islanders who do not improve their circumstances.
Solomons’ copra heads to Europe
Solomon Islands has resumed copra exports to Europe after a five-year break and amidst signs of recovery after the ethnic conflict. A first shipment has been sent to Britain by a local company, Agribiz, one of 11 licensed copra exporters in the country’s deregulated industry.
Pacific city in water project
A Pacific Islands country is listed to be included in a big Water for Asian Cities programme which got the go ahead at the World Water Forum in Japan last month.
The Asian Development Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding with UN-HABITAT, the United Nations agency responsible for promoting sustainable urbanisation, to set up the programme. It aims to:
- build the capacity of cities to secure and manage pro-poor investments; and
- to help the region meet the Millennium Development Goal of “halving, by 2015, the proportion of people without safe drinking water and basic sanitation.”
Politics
Australia denies bullying East Timor
The Australian government is denying that it bullied the world’s poorest country—East Timor—to grab a large slice of a US$48 billion gas and oil deal. The Australian Senate recently passed the Timor Sea Treaty. But not before Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri and Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer signed an agreement in the Timorese capital, Dili. This covers two gas and oil fields in the Timor Sea that divides the countries. The signings came despite East Timorese efforts to renegotiate maritime boundaries drawn up between Indonesia and Australia after the 1975 Indonesian annexation of East Timor. East Timorese say these boundaries unfairly give Australia access to vast resources it is not entitled to.
North Pacific leaders form association
North Pacific government leaders have formed a regional association for improving health services, lowering high fuel costs by buying in bulk, and establishing a Micronesian regional airline, the Pacific Daily News reported. The association emerged from a one-day meeting in March of leaders of the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau, Guam, and Yap, which is a state of the Federated States of Micronesia. The association hopes to spread membership to the rest of the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands.
Peace spreads to no-go zone
Bougainville peace treaty areas appear to have spread to the no-go zone controlled by rebel leader Francis Ona, the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier newspaper reported. It’s hoped peace-building efforts, including weapons disposal, will extend to the Me’ekamui areas around the Bougainville Mine, closed to government control by Ona. Michael Buritaea, commander of the Me’ekamui Defence Force roadblock, gave an assurance in March at a reconciliation ceremony witnessed by Bougainville Governor John Momis, Peoples’ Congress president Joseph Kabui, a United Nations Development Programme representative, Fred Terry, a United Nations executive, Tor Stenbock and other officials.
Indonesia complains
Indonesia is reported to have complained to the Australian government about support for the independence of West Papua from Indonesian rule from Australian non-government organisations. A spokesperson for Indonesia’s foreign affairs ministry, Marty Natalegawa, told the Sydney Morning Herald: “We know the Australian government’s view in support of our territorial integrity. At the same time we will make known our concern not to allow certain groups under the guise of democracy, free speech and the like, basically to try to disrupt and disturb our national unity which we will defend, as would any other sovereign country.” The Howard government uses Australian membership of the Pacific Islands Forum to divert Pacific Islands governments from involvement in the independence issue. Vanuatu recently agreed to the opening of an office in Port Vila by the West Papua independence movement.
Alien hunt
The Papua New Guinea government has moved to start evicting foreigners in Port Moresby working illegally in menial jobs like tucker-shop operators. The crackdown will be a combined effort between Labour and Industrial Relations, Foreign Affairs and Immigration and police. And depending on funds, the operations could extend to the rest of the country. Labour and Industrial Relations Minister Peter O’Neill revealed this in Parliament while answering questions from North Wahgi MP Michael Mas Kal. Kal was unhappy over the engagement of foreigners—particularly those over the age of 70 in menial jobs which locals can do. Some of these positions are on the reserved list of jobs for locals protected by legislation. O’Neill said he had already instructed his department to deal with the issue beginning in Port Moresby.
World Bank says no to fresh loans
The World Bank has no plans to embark on a fresh loan programme for impoverished Papua New Guinea, the Dow Jones Newswires reported. Better management of resources and a government bureaucracy free of corruption is the tonic needed to drag it out of its parlous position, said World Bank director for Papua New Guinea and the Pacific, Zhu Xian. Papua New Guinea is resource-rich with oil, gas and gold mines—crucial props for its ailing economy, the Dow Jones Newswires said. But endemic corruption, tribal violence and crime continue to prove troublesome for some global resource companies, it said. This in turn is hindering the nation’s financial development.
Natapei’s kava ban
Vanuatu’s prime minister, Edward Natapei, has disclosed his government is looking at ways to restrict kava drinking. Excessive consumption of kava is contributing to laziness and abuse of public funds by both the country’s political leaders and public servants, Natapei said. Kava is traditionally drunk during Vanuatu custom ceremonies. But more and more it is also being heavily drunk in local kava bars, where groups gather in the evening. The prime minister said drinking too much at night renders bar customers sleepy and lazy and often late for work the next morning. Vanuatu kava is claimed to be the most potent in the Pacific Islands.
FSM works on tuna commission set up
A taskforce has been set up in the Federated States of Micronesia to administer and coordinate the establishment of the new regional Tuna Commission headquarters in Pohnpei. A team of top officials headed by Secretary of Transportation, Communications and Infrastructure Akillino Susaia has been appointed to work on this.
The work is going on amidst anger in the North Pacific over suggestions from some South Pacific interests that the awarding of the headquarters was only a “recommendation”.
