for pleasure
p. 17 · Read in the full issue
Profit in reading for pleasure
WHEN thinking about business in Micronesia, remember: 1) knowledge is power, and 2) you have plenty of time for aeroplane reading. With those thoughts, Pacific Islands Monthly, looked at material which might help new business people in Micronesia.
One possibility is Investors Guide to the Federated States of Micronesia. This FSM Guide includes good maps, and detailed steps to starting a business in the country.
It covers entry, registrations and licens ing procedures, labour regulations, foreign investment permits, and the FSM tax structure. The Guide also provides
information on the tax advantages US investors can secure by starting a business in FSM (generally, US tax breaks to its territories are also available in the
Associated States.)
Moving our attention to CNMI, we turn to the most recent available govern ment publication: Guidelines to doing business in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. It is comprehensive but thoroughly out-of-date. It was published in 1980, when there were only 2500 foreign workers in the islands there are now more than 20,000.
The annual report on the Trust Territories of the Pacific Islands is a must for anyone interested in Palau. The 1989 edition is detailed on surprising subjects, and truly a delight for the jaded reader of government reports. Hidden within it are some gems for those seeking to do
business there. For example: • The livestock statistics suggest a substantial population of eunuch pigs; while only two pigs were slaughtered, 107 were castrated; • Palau produces $32,388.75 worth of Betelnut, and $1,974 in Betel Pepper.
The report also states that the “dietary scale for prisoners” is 5200 calories. That is either a typographical error or suggests a lot of very plump prisoners.
Another category of publication is the kind which businessmen want to avoid appearing in a published analysis of one’s plans and corporate history mounted by either Greenpeace or the Office of the Inspector-General (OIG) of the Department of Interior. While neither of these genres is designed to provide pleasurable reading, both may prove profitable in avoiding some of the pitfalls of business in the Pacific. □