Arenovski: 2009 yet another challenging year

While he congratulated members of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce for hurdling a tough year in 2008, second-term president James T. Arenovski said the islands’ business community is in for another challenging year in 2009.

“We have a lot of challenges coming in 2009. We had our first non-voting delegate sworn in just the other day and we are now home to one of the largest marine conservation areas in the world. Those two things, along with impending changes to our labor and immigration and tourism, will surely make this an interesting and eventful year for the CNMI,” he said in his address during the Chamber’s installation dinner Saturday night.

Arenovski, who was elected to a second term, will be joined on the board by vice president Doug Brennan of Microl Toyota, treasurer Mike Johnson of Deloitte, secretary Kathryn Barry of IT&E, and board of directors Mark Birmingham of Marianas Cablevision, Steve Jang of Rainbow Color, David M. Sablan Sr. of Century Insurance, Alex Sablan of Saipan Shipping, and Jay Santos of Triple J Saipan. They were all sworn in by Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman at the Hibiscus Hall of the Fiesta Resort and Spa Saipan.

Brennan takes the place of Harry Blalock, who is leaving the CNMI soon, while Birmingham, Jang, and Sablan are newly elected. Alex Sablan and Santos are in the middle of their two-year terms.

Arenovski said the Chamber is prepared to protect the interest of the business community.

He then went on to enumerate the group’s plans for the year.

“We’re broadening our scholarship program to allow our students to attend the Northern Marianas Trade Institute in recognition of the role trades schools will play in changing employment needs of our community. Directors Jay Santos and Alex Sablan are also working to establish an educational program about Article 12, which is certainly one of the significant issues to face us in the coming years. We will continue our efforts to develop pour local workforce and we look forward to NMC [Northern Marianas College], PSS [Public School System], and WIA [Workforce Investment Agency] with this regard.”

Arenovski also rallied Chamber members to be resilient in 2009 despite the challenging times ahead.

“Many of us who have roots in the CNMI—businesses, families—we’re simply going to need to make lemonade out of lemons. Federalization is not going away. And I said last year, we must have a plan and we have to get familiar with how the U.S. runs their immigration laws and visa categories and how it’s going to best fit our system. We have the transition period coming in. The time to act is now! Remember there will still be an economy. There’s going to be services that have to be provided and why shouldn’t your business be the one providing them? Work now to make it so.”

One key is placing the right people in government and the Chamber president asked his constituents to vote responsibly in this year’s elections.

“We must demand the best from our leaders and this will start in the polls this fall. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting the same result. I challenge you to look for a candidate that have well thought of platforms and stand on issues that prove that they can pave the road for a better future for the CNMI.

“But voting is not the only solution. It will be required of us to take leadership in our industries, in our associations, and in our villages, and need be, our government to effect positive change and ensure a viable future in our islands,” he added.

The president of Delta Management Corp. in turn asked the Commonwealth’s leaders to help the business community cope with whatever test the year brings.

“We must tell our leaders not to eliminate or weaken the economic tools that we have left and have control over. Specifically, the favorable tax system for individuals and businesses [here in the CNMI]. We complained fiercely when the feds took away our control of minimum wage and immigration. We need to make sure we do not hurt ourselves even more by destroying one of the great attractions for businesses coming in to the CNMI. We must continue to be bullish on Saipan, we must continue to focus on a CNMI that is a beautiful place to be, a desired destination to bring in tourists, and a great place to raise a family,” he said.