Page 6 - IB July 2020

Briefs

American Samoa Guam
Two American Samoan legislators say they are returning Taiwan will reopen a defacto ‘consulate’ on Guam in
$US10,000 cheques they received from COVID-19 funds. Larry response to closer US-Taiwan relations and Guam’s strategic
Sanitoa and Vesiai Poyer Samuelu returned the money—which importance. Taiwan claims the decision to open the office was
was available for costs incurred during the COVID-19 public for trade and business exchange purposes, and to consolidate
health emergency—because of a lack of accountability. relations with Pacific island countries, and had no military
Meanwhile protesters have demonstrated in opposition to the purposes as defence analysts have suggested.
use of COVID funds by senators and representatives.
Kiribati
The Tourism Authority of Kiribati (TAK) has celebrated its first
Cook Islands birthday. Kiribati recorded a 19% increase in international
The Cook Islands Chamber of Commerce and Cook Islands visitors in 2019 and a 11% increase in the number of beds
Tourism Council’s joint Private Sector Force says it will take available in country. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has
up to three years for Cook Islands’ economy to recover from seen a 60% decline in international visitor arrivals (as of May
the COVID-19 pandemic. The economy has contracted by 9% 2020) and TAK anticipates a greater decline due to continued
and a further contraction of 5.3% is anticipated in the coming travel restrictions. CEO Petero Manufolau says once borders
financial year.
reopen, TAK will respond to the ‘new normal’ with tourism
operator training, product update for international tour
operators and niche focused digital marketing campaigns.

Federated States of Micronesia
President David W. Panuelo has signed an emergency
regulation stating that importation of one-time-use disposable Marshall Islands
Styrofoam, plastic food service items, and plastic shopping Marshall Islands leaders have rejected a US Department of
bags is now banned, but that existing stocks already in the Energy (DEO) finding that the Runit Dome in the Enewetak
country may be used. The President says while plastic water Atoll group is sound and that radioactive leakage into the
bottles are not covered by the import ban, his administration nearby lagoon is not significant. The nuclear waste repository
intends to extend the ban to bottles by the end of its term. is crumbing and cracked, but the DEO says there isn’t enough
The emergency regulations are in place for 120 days. A public data to determine the impact of sea level rise on the dome.
review process will take place in that time, with a view to The Marshall Islands’ National Nuclear Commission has
making the regulations permanent.
rejected the report , saying it doesn’t include a plan to repair
the dome as required by the US Congress.
US attorney Paul Petersen has pleaded guilty to charges
Fiji related to an illegal baby adoption operation involving
Businesses have been given some respite, with Fiji’s Marshall Islands mothers in Utah, Arizona and Arkansas. He
government extending the deadline for digital registration faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine once a date
to December 31 this year. All existing entities were obliged for sentencing is set.
to digitally register before June 14, while companies and
foreign companies had until 15 July to undertake the process.
Business name holders had until 15 October. These deadlines
are all extended until the end of the year, although the Nauru
government is urging businesses not to wait until the last Nauru marked 50 years of phosphate ownership on July 1.
minute.
Attendees at the celebrations, known as Handover Day,
heard President Lionel Aingimea express his faith in RONPhos
(formerly the Nauru Phosphate Corporation) leadership: “the
plans RONPhos has in place to move forward positively…
French Polynesia they’re thinking outside the box.” Prior to the handover in
French Polynesia’s population grew by just 0.4% last year in 1970, the industry was controlled by the Nauru Phosphate
comparison to 2018. However the birth rate declined. At the Corporation, owned by the governments of Australia, Britain
end of 2019, French Polynesia had 278,400 residents. Over and New Zealand. Secondary phosphate mining continues on
the past 20 years, the population has increased by 45,000, Nauru, with pre-COVID projected production levels of over
and aged substantially, with those over 60 now accounting for 200,000 metric tonnes annually.
13.3% of the population.

6 Islands Business, July 2020