Briefs

Forum involved in Asia Pacific economic

cooperation

IN preparation for next month’s APEC Leaders meeting, to be held in Kuala Lumpur, senior APEC officials met in August in Malaysia. The South Pacific Forum is also represented. APEC has most Pacific'rim countries in its membership, including many key trade and economic partners of Forum member countries. Three Forum members, Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, are APEC mem bers in their own right. Other Forum mem ber countries can access APEC proceedings by means of the Forum’s observership in

Apec.

Samoa delivers new offshore facilities SAMOA’S offshore finance centre has launched itself as a competitor to the Isle of Man, Alderney and several Caribbean juris dictions by introducing hybrid companies and companies limited by guarantee. The secrecy provisions have also been eased slightly to allow identification of some company details, while control of offshore banking and insurance is to be policed more tightly. The Samoan parliament passed the International Companies Act 1998 in a move aimed at making the country more competitive in the industry. Registrar of International and Foreign Companies, Ema Va’ai, said that since Samoa’s offshore laws were remodelled in 1991 along the lines of legislation in the British Virgin Islands, international companies had become the most popular form of vehicle in the juris diction, as opposed to trusts. A large major ity of the 4880 offshore entities registered in Samoa were international companies, she said.

PNG coffee harvest looks brighter PAPUA New Guinea will probably har vest more coffee than first expected this year after rain last November and December eased earlier drought damage to trees, Bloomberg News reported. Production could reach 950,000 bags in 1998, up from earlier estimates of as low as 600,000 bags,

the Coffee Industry Corporation of Papua

New Guinea (CIC) said. Last year the coun try produced one million bags. Most coffee gardens and plantations recovered well from the drought and were assisted by time ly rains in November and December, CIC said in a statement. While coffee output is likely to be higher than expected, damage

from dry weather is expected to cause loss es worth Kl 5 million (about US$6 million), CIC said. Large coffee plantations bigger than 20 hectares were the worst affected.

Papua New Guinea will probably account for about one per cent of global cof fee production in 1998-1999. The country grows mostly the mild-flavoured arabica coffee beans. Germany normally takes between 50 to 60 per cent of its annual exports.

Marianas faces Mexico in garment industry INCREASINGLY attractive investment incentives in Mexico are threatening the Northern Mariana Islands’ appeal to foreign business people worried over apparent lack of support by the government on garment manufacturing, according to the Saipan Tribune. The NMI, whose nearly US$l bil lion garment industry has propelled the local economy in the wake of the financial turmoil of its neighbours in Asia, has yet to offer better incentives to keep factories grinding there. Representative Melvin Faisao said the booming apparel trade in Mexico should serve as a warning sign for the NMI government to reconsider its restrictive policies towards the local gar ment manufacturers.

“Our garment industry here in the CNMI is not only facing competition in the US market from Mexican factories under NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement), but also is being faced with many uncertainties and lack of support from our government leaders,” the legislator said in an interview with the newspaper.

The Marianas government has been under pressure from Washington because of the influx of Asian migrant workers and allegations of labour abuse. The legislature has voted to increase user fees, which are imposed on locally-sewn garment products, from 3.5 per cent to 3.7 per cent. On top of this, it has also restricted hiring of foreign manpower under a labour moratorium.

Increase in young workers and old people The 1998 State of the World Population Report, launched last month, looked in detail at the challenge facing two new gen erations.

It said more young people (15-24 years) than ever are now entering their childbear ing and working years and at the same time, greater numbers of people are living to older ages (over 65). ■