Pacific Briefs

Pacific nations better equipped to deal with crises

PORT VILA, Vanuatu – Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Pacific Island nations are now better equipped to deal with a future crisis in the region.

Downer made his comments at the start of an official visit to Vanuatu on the second leg of a four-nation Pacific tour.

Downer said the coups in Fiji and Solomon Islands this year prompted member nations of the Pacific Islands Forum to formulate a plan to better handle such events.

He also said Forum countries now have a greater political will to assist their neighbors in times of crisis.

Fiji’s trade deficit increases

SUVA, Fiji – The country’s trade deficit increased last year by $160 million compared to 1998.

According to the Bureau of Statistics, Fiji’s imports exceeded total exports by $578 million.

The total cost of imports in 1999 was $1.8 million, an increase of 24 percent over the previous year.

Australia remains the largest contributor of imports.

New Caledonia court sentences drug smugglers

NOUMEA, New Caledonia – A magistrate court sentenced a gang of drug smugglers to jail for trying to sneak various drugs into the country from Europe.

Two of the smugglers were sentence to three to six years in jail.

They were arrested for possession of cocaine, heroin, ecstasy pills, LSD and cannabis at La Tontouta airport in Noumea in February on a return trip from Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

The main player behind the trafficking was given a four-year jail term. Eight others were given minor sentences.

Starkist Samoa shuts down for three weeks

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa – StarKist Samoa, the territory’s largest private employer, shut down its operations for three weeks for routine maintenance.

The annual year-end shutdown will allow the company to carry out necessary engineering and maintenance work.

The work is normally completed within two weeks. But this year, the company will shutdown an added week to allow the government to widen a nearby road, which has fallen into disrepair.

Cook Islands tobacco, alcohol prices hike

RAROTONGA, Cook Islands – The cost of tobacco and alcohol increased 3.3 percent between September and December, according to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figures released by the Cook Islands Statistics Office for the December 2000 quarter.

The cost of clothing increased 2.7 percent.

Food prices, ranked third highest, rose an average 2.5 percent for the same comparative period, with cereal products showing the largest increase.

The price for bread increased 14 percent during the quarter. (Pacific Islands Report)