Pacific Region News

Palau’s Nakamura in Japan

KOROR, Palau—President Kuniwo Nakamura has arrived in Japan for five days of consultations with Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and other officials concerning both bi-lateral and Pacific Islands regional affairs.

Topping the agenda is planning for an April 22 summit meeting between Japan and the 16-nation South Pacific Forum, which Nakamura chairs, in the southern Japan city of Miyazaki.

The talks are aimed at gathering the opinions of Pacific nations, so that Obuchi can present them at a meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized nations, scheduled for Okinawa in July.

Gov’t survives no confidence vote

ALOFI, Niue—Premier Sani Lakatani survived a vote of no confidence in the 20-member Fale Fono (parliament) Friday by a tie vote of 20-20.

Lakatani, in office only since March, faced the vote over deciding the government of the nation of fewer than 3,000 people would fully fund a new international airline, Coral Air.

Under the constitution, another vote of no confidence cannot take place for six weeks. In the meantime, the parliament is expected to remain immobilized, unable to enact any laws or authorize any spending.

PNG receives $80-M loan

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea—Australia has announced an $80 million short-term loan to Papua New Guinea to assist the government’s economic restructuring program.

The currency swap is similar to the ones used to help prop up the Thai, Indonesian and South Korean economies in 1997, and follows an agreement between PNG and the International Monetary Fund on an economic restructuring package.

The loan will bolster reserves, allow for a reduction in government debt to the Bank of Papua New Guinea and contribute toward a further strengthening of confidence in the county’s economy, said Acting Treasurer John Fahey.

New 104-room hotel A. Samoa

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa—Groundbreaking for a long-planned 104-room hotel is scheduled to take place near the capital next month. It will serve primarily business visitors to the U.S. territory.

Ottoville Investment One, Inc. president Avamua Dave Haleck said Phase I of the project, scheduled to take a year to complete, includes the hotel, a swimming pool, landscaping, sidewalks and access roads.

Phase II will include a restaurant. It will not be built until 2001.

Tough fines target Fuji drunks

SUVA, Fiji Islands—In preparation for the yearend holidays police have begun a major crackdown on drivers who drink to excess.

Drunk drivers face fines of $200.

Unannounced roadblocks are being set up throughout the main island of Viti Levu in an effort to keep road fatalities to a minimum during the lead up to the new millennium.

Nadi police inspector Sunil Dutt said there will be a crackdown on defective vehicles as well as drunk drivers.