59 foreign investors visit CNMI • Businessmen from China, Hong Kong look for possible investment opportunities here

With efforts geared toward the alleviation of the Commonwealth’s economic conditions, the CNMI played host to 59 foreign investors who traveled to the islands over the weekend for a two-day trade mission.

The investors were invited over by Michael Kwan, chairman of the Hong Kong Entertainment Ltd., which operates the multi-million dollar facility Tinian Dynasty Hotel and Casino.

The businessmen flew over from mainland China and Hong Kong to look around for possible investment opportunities in the Northern Marianas, said Tinian Dynasty Hotel General Manager Tom Liu.

Mr. Liu said the delegation of 59 Chinese businessmen received warm welcome from local officials led by Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio and Tinian Mayor Francisco M. Borja.

Although no concrete pledges were made by any of the 59 visiting investors, officials are upbeat that the fact they have come all the way to the islands for possible investments is already a positive sign.

Mr. Liu said it remains very early to tell whether any of the foreign investors will come back to infuse fresh capital into the local economy but added that the businessmen were concerned about the state of infrastructure facilities in the CNMI.

While not directly implying the poor state of public infrastructures in the Northern Marianas, the foreign investors reportedly lamented that improvements should be put in place to make it easier to do business here.

Also, among the major concerns raised by the investors were the lack of available local manpower needed to run and man private businesses. They were also apprehensive about some regulations which may not be as friendly as those enforced in the neighboring island of Guam.

Previous reports claimed CNMI has been losing investors to Guam due to the absence of a good set of incentives in the Northern Marianas, unlike in Guam where foreign investors need not deposit $100,000 for security.

Because of these allegedly restrictive investment laws, the CNMI has failed to entice foreign investors to come in and infuse fresh capital into the islands.

In fact, a little over 10 foreign businesses have so far agreed to pump in combined investments of less than $10 million between February 1997 and middle of last year.

While primarily caused by internal and external economic slowdown, officials said this could be attributed to the weakening business confidence in the Northern Marianas due to the persistent existence of protectionist and restrictive investment policies.

Although proposals have been made to eliminate a chain of business regulations that are seen detrimental to efforts aimed at enticing the entry of foreign investors into the CNMI, nothing have, so far, been made concrete.

Business analysts said weaker confidence in the CNMI economy’s ability to turnaround due to the absence of investment-friendly environment will continue to take its toll unless concrete steps are undertaken by both the government and the private sector.

They said the trickling number of foreign investments in more than three years should have told the CNMI government — loud and clear — that there is something wrong with its business regulations and policies.