American Samoa

Trade Winds

Vanuatu

Vanuatu for beef scheme TOP agricultural officials from the South Pacific Commission member coun tries have designated Vanuatu as the base for a regional project on producing meat for export. The meeting in Tahiti was told the project will provide training in marketing skills and the provision of improved cattle to smallholders in island countries. The long-term aim is to have more smallholders producing beef on a commercial basis.

Logging begins on Malekula A TAIWANESE company, Tsiensou (Vanuatu) Enterprise Co, is about to be gin logging timber on the island of Male kula. Heavy equipment and about 50 workers from Taiwan were expected to arrive in late April, with about 200 peo ple to be employed locally. The company has signed a 40-year agreement to log and process timber in the country.

Fruit processing not viable A STUDY to see whether local fruit pro cessing would be viable in linkage with the Vanuatu tourism has concluded the economies of the proposal were not sufficiently attractive. The Tourism Council of the South Pacific study showed that while conditions on Efate, Tanna and the southern islands were ideally suited to growing guava, man goes, pawpaw, passionfruit, citrus fruit and pineapples, there was insufficient local demand in the tourism sector and any new products would have to com

pete against highly aggressive marketing

from imported brands.

More Australian aid sought VANUATU’S Foreign Affairs Secretary Nikenike Vurobaravu is leading a de legation to Canberra to seek further Au stralian aid. The team was then to be

joined in Wellington by Foreign Minister

Donald Kalpokas for similar talks with the New Zealand Government. □

Kiribati

Korea makes new fish treaty SOUTH Korea has agreed to a new fishing agreement with Kiribati after talks held recently in Guam. The Koran Deep Sea Fisheries Association will pay U 55960,000 so that 113 boats can fish with longlines in Kiribati’s exclusive eco nomic zone in the current year. The Ko reans also agreed to increase the number of Kiribati nationals working on their vessels.

Recruiting stops for Nauru FAILURE by the Nauru Government to renew the three-year agreement under which Kiribati nationals are recruited for the phosphate island has led to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Labour on Tarawa to ctop recruiting work. The Nauru Phosphate Commission has asked for more workers, but the Kiribati au thorities say it would be unfair to send their nationals without proper arrange ments between the two countries. Of the 8000 people on Nauru, nearly 3000 are phosphate workers from Kiribati, Tuvalu and other islands.

Slipway plan criticised PLANS by the Kiribati Government to build a slipway on Tarawa to take ships up to 300 tonnes have been criticised by the manager of the Betio Shipyard, Horishi Yakoda. He argues that a bigger

slipway, capable of handling 600 tonne

ships, is needed, a project which would cost US$2O million. Building a larger slipway would allow the yard to repair a much wider range of vessels, and thus make more profit and remove the opera tion from the need for government sup port, he said.

Fish ponds to be built KIRIBATI is to develop fish ponds on its outer islands, growing milk fish which are used as bait for tuna. The US$6O,OOO project is funded by Japanese aid and will go ahead as soon as the necessary machinery arrives in the coun try. □

American Samoa

Taro smuggling probe FEARS that American Samoa is being used as a taro smuggling trans-shipment point between Western Samoan expor ters and their foreign customers had led to the United States territory setting up a monitoring watch on the trade. West ern Samoa imposed a ban on exporting taro following Cyclone Ofa in order to conserve local food supplies, and the government there acted for several large taro shipments were air freighted out of Apia to New Zealand and Hawaii.

Harbour is dying PAGO PAGO Harbour will biologically die if nothing is done to reduce pollu tion, according to a consultants’ study just released. It said more waste is being dumped in the harbour than its ecosy stem can deal with more than half of that waste comes from the two large fish canneries in Pago Pago. D