Employment and stability a priority

Duncan Wilson
For Vanuatu’s Prime Minister Ham Lini, a “steady path” of economic growth, national “unity” and governmental “stability” is crucial to his country’s weathering of domestic and regional change.

Lini’s priorities are the improvement of Vanuatu’s employment and standard of living, especially after the domestic instability and regional antipathy he said at times marked his predecessors’ tenure.

“When we look at unemployment, we have to look at it in two different ways,” he told ISLANDS BUSINESS.

“We often talk about unemployment in terms of the two towns—Port Vila and Luganville—but that’s only about 20 percent of the population of Vanuatu.

“However when we talk about unemployment in other parts of the islands or the villages, it doesn’t always have the same meaning, because everyone has subsistence and village ways of living, where everybody looks after their welfare in different ways, everyday.

“What we want to do is to try and upgrade the standard of living of our people, so that those in the villages have better incomes, employment and opportunities,” Lini said.

For Lini, greater investment in infrastructure and tourism is key to economic growth. New Zealand’s regional seasonal employment (RSE) scheme is also of real benefit.

About one third of the one thousand or so Pacific Islanders in New Zealand’s RSE are from Vanuatu.

Their remittances to Vanuatu stand to become the country’s second largest source of foreign exchange—ahead of traditional exports such as copra and beef.

And Lini says following discussions with New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark in mid-February, he expects the number of Vanuatu workers to run as high as 1000 in the coming season.

Such an increase, Lini said, “would be a great boost to an already successful project.”

But Lini said Vanuatu must also focus on growing its own industries, especially tourism. To-date, Lini says his country’s lack of a “comprehensive tourism strategy” has meant Vanuatu hasn’t fully benefitted from the region’s reputation among sightseers.

“Our problem is that we don’t put much emphasis on attracting more tourists. At some point, the tourists that come out on ships still come out on the same wharf as our cargo that comes out from overseas.

“We need to have a long-term plan. In this case, we need to build a better wharf for tourists, for example, so that tourism growth will be improved. We need greater investment in tourism so it will continue to grow in the future.”

He also says his country’s lack of roads and infrastructure in the rural areas has hindered tourism and economic development.

Lini says one major donor country recently delayed significant roading projects, which has forced Vanuatu to begin negotiations with other donors.

“Tourists don’t really want to come down the sort of roads we currently have. So we have a lot of substantial road-building projects which could enable more tourists to come to Vanuatu and see our beautiful places.

“We also believe that proper roading will bring more people and greater business activities, and people will be able to bring products to the markets. So we cannot understate how important basic infrastructure is to Vanuatu,” Lini said.

Lini said Vanuatu has welcomed China’s presence. And if Vanuatu cannot secure new donors for the lapsed roading projects, Lini would again approach the Chinese government, “even though they are already helping us with other projects”.

But he won’t become involved in the rivalry between China and Taiwan, because it is not in Vanuatu’s interest.

“At the moment it is not a very big issue but it can happen anytime, depending on who is in power, and it would create more problems in Vanuatu.

“People in Vanuatu have realised that to deal with Taiwan is something very sensitive and will not really be creating any benefits. People look to it as something that benefits the leaders, not the villages.”

Lini is thankful for China’s support of the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), which is headquartered in Port Vila.

But he said it is too soon to predict the extent of the group’s influence.

One observer has described the MSG as the first subregional group which New Zealand and Australia does not have substantial influence.

But predictions of uniform Melanesian solidarity might appear premature, if Lini’s account of the group’s treatment of Fiji is any indication.

Lini told a press conference in Wellington that the MSG would attempt to hold Commodore Bainimarama to his pledge to hold elections by March 2009.

“I think the problem is the Commander can’t stand up to do what he promised to do at the Forum.”

Later, he told ISLANDS BUSINESS that “the problem is within their (Fiji’s) own hands.”

“I say that because at the Pacific Islands Forum meeting, we agreed to work programmes  and have not had the need to interfere while we think things will happen according to plan. But it is up to the Fijian people to negotiate ways of improving their situation.”

In March, New Zealand will host a Forum foreign ministers meeting on Fiji. The host country, along with Australia and other member countries, will emphasise Forum expectations that Fiji hold elections by March 2009.