Economist to look into CNMI’s business portfolio

In preparation for the upcoming Secretary’s Conference on Business Opportunities in the Islands in Los Angeles, the Office of the Interior Secretary will be sending an economist to look into the CNMI’s investment portfolio and potential.

Office of Insular Affairs resident director Jeff Schorr said Tomas Kandl, a graduate of Wharton School of Business, would be on Saipan beginning Thursday to meet with business people in the Commonwealth.

Kandl is also scheduled to meet with Gov. Juan N. Babauta on Friday to tackle other business opportunities available to potential investors and the feasibility of putting up diverse business in the CNMI.

“Mr. Kandl would arrive Thursday night and he is expected to meet with the Saipan Chamber of Commerce and other businesses. He has a meeting with the governor and he would be on island in the next 10 days,” Schorr said yesterday.

According to Schorr, he would arrange a media briefing with Kandl to discuss thoroughly what the business conference is all about. Schorr said Kandl will discuss his plans and studies to be conducted, which would later be presented during the conference in September.

Schorr said the study is similar to the report submitted last year by DOI/Wharton Investment Program specialist Natalie Kulik, in time for the 2003 Investment Development Conference held in Washington D.C.

Kulik’s report identified five key investment opportunities in the CNMI that, if properly exploited, could substantially boost the local economy. The 42-page report gave an overview of the business climates within the four insular areas—the CNMI, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands—and the key business opportunities present, as well as the inherent risks that must be considered by potential investors.

The Secretary’s Conference on Business Opportunities in the Islands, to be held Sept. 23 and 24 at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, will highlight opportunities in Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.

Norton stressed that her department’s role is merely to facilitate interaction and the exchange of information that might lead to business activity, and not to support specific projects.