PM Archives
FedEx and Cyclones
 |
|
|
Ten years ago the current Fiji Prime Minister, Laisenia Qarase, was managing director of the Fiji Development Bank and reported to PM that efforts to train ethnic Fijians in running small retail outlets had been “ill advised.” The experimental retail outlets were set up too close to larger stores and they could not compete, the managing director explained. The recently held Pacific Arts Festival had left the host Cook Islands government in debt and Western Samoa (as it was then called) announced that Australia had replaced New Zealand as its largest trade partner. 1993 started off with two cyclones, one hitting Fiji and the other blowing through the Solomon Islands. The Marshall Islands confirmed its first case of HIV/AIDS this year and, in commercial news, 1993 marked the beginning of FedEx service to Majuro and Ebeye. Italy became the fourth European country to establish diplomatic relations with the Federated States of Micronesia. The establishment of the U.S.-Pacific Island Joint Commercial Commission was announced in this issue. The commission, which is attached to the East-West Center in Honolulu, is still in existence.
The cover photo by Norman Douglas is of dancers from Tongoa Island in Vanutu. Their performance was in Port Vila.
- ADVERTISEMENT -
