Business Briefs

Canadian mining giant Inco will open a new office in Australia as an administrative base for its Asia-Pacific operations and business development. "It recognizes the growing importance of our Asia-Pacific operations as we build the Goro project in New Caledonia, and expand our PT Inco operations in Indonesia," says Inco Chairman and CEO Scott Hand. The new Asia-Pacific office will be headed by Logan Kruger, who becomes president, Asia-Pacific. -- SM

Marshall Islands

A sobering economic report issued by the Marshall Islands Government in September states that unemployment in the country is at least 34 percent, with joblessness among youth twice that number. While average government salaries have increased from around $9,000 to more than $13,000 since 1997, private sector annual wages have been steadily falling from an average of above $6,000 to about $4,600. -- GJ

Guam

The U.S. Navy announced Sept. 14 that it had awarded a $29.2 million contract to Dick Pacific Construction Co. to build a new high school at the Guam Naval Hospital installation for the military dependents. The contract includes an option, to be awarded within 180 days, to build a $38.4 million elementary/middle school. The high school is to be completed by May 2007 and the elementary/middle school a year later. -- FW

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

Visitor arrivals to the Northern Marianas during August declined by 3.65 percent compared to the same month last year, according to the Marianas Visitors Authority (MVA). A total of 44,469 tourists visited the CNMI in August, bringing the annual total to 483,698. Although arrivals from Japan grew by 5 percent, Korea and China arrivals declined 18 percent each. Japan and Korea are the CNMI's biggest tourist markets, but the number of flights from Korea declined by 40 percent compared to August 2004. -- FSR

Fiji

Troubled Emperor Gold Mining Company Ltd. sacked 38 staff for unacceptable levels of absenteeism in September following a walkout protest days earlier. The company is seeking help both from the Fiji Government and the ANZ Bank after a reassessment of its ore body resulted in a 22 percent reduction in the mine's known reserves. It wants the government to reconsider tax, reduce duty on fuel imports and reduce royalty the mine has to pay. -- RM

The Vanuatu ban on Fiji-made biscuits remains unresolved--even though Port Vila had promised at the recent Melanesian Spearhead meeting it would lift it. Although Vanuatu had announced earlier it had lifted the ban, Port Vila slapped a quota on Fiji's biscuits. In a tit-for-tat exchange earlier, Fiji banned importation of Vanuatu kava, but has since reopened its doors to the product. Vanuatu had banned Fiji biscuits to protect a biscuit company in Santo, although consumers there reportedly prefer Fiji biscuits for their quality. -- RM

Papua New Guinea

The Steamships Trading Company has agreed to end its monopoly of Papua New Guinea's "easy-pay" vending service that enabled customers to pay for electricity only from its shops. The company made more than K20 million (US$6.2 million) a year in an agreement with the state-owned PNG Power Limited that dated back to 1997. The state-owned company said Port Moresby-based companies Food World and Andersons Foodland would be the other shops where people can now pay for electric service. -- AR

Telikom PNG Limited has signed an agreement with Middle East and Africa satellite communications provider NewSat. The Melbourne-based company said the agreement would see it collaborate with the state-owned PNG company to provide a range of services including high-speed Internet, Web browsing, data transfer, video streaming and multicasting. Adrian Ballintine, CEO of NewSat's parent company Multiemedia, says satellite communication was cheap for PNG compared to setting up a traditional cable fiber optic network. -- AR

Kiribati

Tarawa Motors, agent for Toyota in Kiribati, has introduced the new Hilux Vogo 4WD car. Chief Managing Director Joyce Greg says the company will soon have a big glass-windowed showroom and will no longer order secondhand cars, which has been the norm. She says there's an increasing demand for new cars in Kiribati and people are going for the latest models despite high prices. -- BB

The women's federations of Kiribati's Roman Catholic and Protestant churches have joined forces to cater for demands of seashell handicrafts from New Zealand and Australia importers. A buyer from New Zealand visited Kiribati recently to find an agent. The women have now sold more than 1,000 seashell handicrafts and more orders are in place for Christmas. -- BB

Samoa

The South Pacific Business Development Foundation (SPBD), the Grameen Bank-styled micro finance lending agency operating in Samoa since January 2000, has passed the T$5 million (US $1.8 million) mark in loans. SPBD was the initiative of its founder, Greg Cassagrande, a former U.S. business executive. It provides micro financing for poor and low-income families and groups who might otherwise not qualify for traditional bank financial services. The foundation supports family-based businesses such as bakeries, sewing and weaving, vegetable growing and selling, store keeping, and fishing, by giving small loans of around T$750 (US $200) to start, with the possibility of graduating to larger amounts. Since the foundation started operating in Samoa in January 2000, some 5,600 loans have been given out to assist 3,800 low-income families. -- AT

American Samoa

The leader of the Tokelau Islands, Pio Tuia, was in American Samoa in September, where he met with Governor Togiola Tulafono to discuss possible trading links. The Tokelauans are interested in acquiring fuel, building supplies and American-made goods from the territory and are looking for the government-owned MV Sili to make a regular trip to Tokelau. Initial discussions took place in August during a visit by Swains representative Alexander Jennings to Tokelau, where Tuia expressed interests in formalizing shipping and trading links with American Samoa. -- FS

The signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Samoa Association of Manufacturers and Exporters (SAME) and American Samoa Chamber of Commerce highlighted the start of the three-day SAME trade exhibition that opened in Pago Pago on September 28. More than 30 businesses from Samoa and 10 businesses from American Samoa joined in. The agreement commits the two organizations to identify and promote opportunities that will enhance the development of industry and commerce in both Samoa and American Samoa. Chamber President Robin Annesley said that it is vital for a country's economy to be driven by a strong private sector because without long-term revenues derived from its private sector, a country's economy cannot be sustainable nor serve its citizens' basic needs. -- FS

French Polynesia

When a recent French Polynesian trade delegation headed by Finance Minister Emile Vanfasse arrived in Australia, quarantine authorities prevented them from bringing tropical flowers intended as part of the exhibition into the country. That experience is one of the barriers to doing business in Australia that the delegation is keen on overcoming.

Vanfasse says French Polynesia imports A$200 million (US$ 150 million) worth of goods from Australia, and exports "not even A$1 million (US$752 thousand)."

Pearls makes up the biggest component of those exports, followed by noni and copra. "It's usually raw products," Vanfasse says. "Because of the high price of our products we need to explore niche marketsÉ(from this delegation) we expect to hear that for some exhibitors it (new markets) will happen, although not 100 percent."

"The idea is really to identify production prospects, to work on removing barriers such as quarantine requirements."

The trade mission included manufacturers and retailers of pearls, textiles, beer and spirits, building materials and cosmetics.

The mission reflects the Temaru Government's push to improve diplomatic and trade relations with French Polynesia's Pacific Island neighbors. -- SM

Contributors: Samantha Magick, Giff Johnson, Frank Whitman, Frank S. Rosario, Ricardo Morris, Alex Rheeney, Batiri Bataua, Afamasaga Toleafoa and Fili Sagapolutele.