Vigor, hesitancy,

in the economy

“Melanesian patience it’s rubbed off on us,” said an expat riate Port-Vila businessman with many years of experience.

It took nearly a year after independence for the trauma of the attempted secession of Santo island, almost a reality on inde pendence day, July 30, 1980, to ease. It was something the newly independent republic could well have done without.

But among the foreigners who thought of Vanuatu as their home there was optimism.

Give us two years, was their cry at the time. They were deter mined to see things through. And now, well over two years later, they express disappointment.

They could have expected speedier commercial expansion.

But they still live, work, and seem to enjoy a good living standard in Vanuatu.

It’s their money that is chang ing the face of Port-Vila’s main street, Kumul Highway. Three new buildings each of three storeys, are under construction.

Progress of building work is rapid. Just how the ground floors will find shop-keepers to fill

them, and how such an increase in commercial office space will be filled, isn’t known. But it’s available and waiting.

Foreign residents in Vanuatu are re-investing in the republic.

Certainly they would have been happier to see things move faster. But they have leamt pati ence from the Melanesians. They are the first to say that Vanuatu belongs to the Melanesians, and they have leamt tolerance.

Now there is a change. As the republic nears its third year of independence the call for greater speed in development is coming from Melanesians. It’s now the custom land-owner who wants land laws settled. They want lease monies in their pockets.

It’s the land question that is basic to economic development.

While it remains unsettled, no thing economically sound will be built. On independence land ownership reverted to the custom landowners. Former land-owners who were foreigners became known as “alienators,” and they first pushed for firm land lease agreements. But as the Melane sians now need money for head

tax, school fees, imported food, even video sets, they want firm land lease agreements.

Much is now being done to see that the Melanesians’ needs are met.

Land Ministry officials are visiting all islands to explain the new proposed land courts. Meet ings are well attended. Many questions are being posed by Melanesians.

Having seen several of these land meetings in progress, I would say that there is no doubt that Melanesian land-owners want action.

In the meantime several other economic avenues are being ac

tively pursued.

The three major sources of economic independence for Vanuatu are natural resources, tourism and the finance centre.

Great strides have been made in regard to natural resources, in line with the government’s poli cy to decentralise, keep control of the urban drift, and bring a greater share of the country’s wealth down to those in the

villages.

Traditionally the major export,

copra fell into disaster following independence for two reasons.

The first was that Vanuatu wasn't producing, and that what it was processing was poor grade copra. Second, Vanuatu’s main European market for copra

closed its doors. A massive publ icity campaign to improve copra quality got results. New methods of drying and of up-grading the storage of copra were rapidly achieved. A newly set up Copra Marketing Board did more than this. They set a stable price for copra and rationalised copra transport costs. Producers throughout Vanuatu responded.

The Ministry is looking on copra realistically. While it is traditionally the major export, and has found a firm price on world markets, diversification of crops is vital. Training is being given to cocoa and coffee grow ers. A new cocoa and coffee research centre, funded by France, recently opened next to the copra research station on Santo.

It’s expected that cocoa and coffee will find their export mar kets once quality is improved.

Small-scale fisheries projects in the islands of the central reg ion are finding a ready market for fish in the capital. Early this year the Minister of Lands and Natur al Resources, Sethy Regenvanu, opened a fisheries storage centre, at Port-Vila. Japanese aid made this possible. It’s expected that the fisheries centre will be in valuable when other fisheries projects are set up throughout Vanuatu. This again is a poten tial new export market.

Report from Vanuatu Christine Coombe

Forestry is a long-term project. It’s been started on several islands where the fertile land is expected eventually to provide timber both for the republic’s needs and for export.

Attention to tourism from govemment is strong. It’s certainly providing income, and since independence there is a much greater participation in the industry by Melanesians. What’s holding Melanesians back from tourism is the lack of training. Government is offering training to give confidence to the naturally shy people, who’ve responded well.

As from the beginning of the year ground tour operations had to be owned by Melanesians.

While this move was seen by

foreigners who formerly owned such operations as doomed to fail, one might wonder why, after 10 years in the business, they hadn’t trained local staff to the point where they could take responsibility.

Major hotel projects are on the drawing board for Santo and Efate.

The finance industry seems to represent something of a poser for government. The finance centre was set up by the British in the early ’7os as a means by which Vanuatu might earn money. Money earned from foreign businesses registered in Vanuatu is estimated as equal to income gained from tourism.

The industry receives tacit ap

proval from government. “This is money going straight into Vanuatu’s bank, earned by the country and with no strings at tached,” a Port-Vila finance centre member with a great deal of experience told me. He feels more active government atten tion to this industry could quick ly bring it into line with that of Nauru.

The first major step to promote the industry in Hong Kong was organised by the finance centre earlier this year. While spokes men described the venture as a success, Finance Minister Kal pokor Kalsakau wasn’t with the mission as planned because of the political turmoil at home at the time.

Little use so far seems to have been made of the two-year-old

shipping register. While those

involved are tight-lipped about the number of ships registered in Vanuatu, they are believed to be a mere handful.

Political stability is vital to the finance centre. What it takes from the country is little a few floors of office space.

There’s money a-plenty still waiting in the wings. Finance centre experts know it’s been there for a long time. But there is a concern that it won’t wait around for too much longer. The industry would like to see more than tacit approval from govern ment, they would like to see the

centre actively promoted.