27/11/03 EMPTY HOUSES HURTING NATIONAL IMAGE The great migration of Niueans mainly to New Zealand during the past fifty years have left Niue with a problem of empty houses. There is also an additional issue with those empty houses, the use of the absetos roofing is a major concern because of a health hazard. The houses commonly known as hurricane houses, was contructed in the 60s and funded by the New Zealand Government, helping Niueans live in better and stronger houses. At the time when hurricanes was destroying most of the traditional houses mainly made of puga-processed limestone. Most of those houses are now empty and during the past two weeks Hon Fisa Pihigia Minister for Community Affairs was in Auckland to meet with the families and discuss what the Government of Niue is planning to do. Digital photos of each empty house is shown so families can actually see the current state of their houses. For most families they last saw their houses between twenty to forty years ago, so there has been some drammatic lost in quality on the structure and appearance of the houses. Some of the empty houses are safe and they can be upgraded, while others are beyond repair and should be demolished. However the best option which is cheaper, and better is to demolish the old houses and rebuild new ones. Some empty houses hold a lot of heritage to some families and it may be a hard decision to demolish them. The positive of rebuilding new houses, will help to contribute value to the houses on Niue which is also good for Niue as a whole long term. This may also help create a market for real estate on Niue. This problem on empty houses in not an easy one, but all parties must come together to work out the best solution.
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24/11/03 POLYNESIAN AIRLINES INCREASE TWO FLIGHTS Tourism in Niue will benefit from the increase of two additional Polynesian Airlines flights to Niue per week. The increase is also crucial for meeting demand from the coming festive season, earlier this year Auckland passengers were stranded on Niue as too many passengers were booked to travel. The two new flights also enable Niue to have two direct flights to and from Auckland. It is hope that more passsengers will book to travel on these new flights. The marketing and promotional drive of Niue is still too slow to take adavantage of the new flights, which is typical of the Niue tourism industry. This attitude of the Niue tourism industry especially its leaders must change, and must be able to plan more aggressively and holistically. The attitude toward these opportunities will have to change, the planning must happen and must improve all the times, otherwise these opportunities will just disappear.
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6/10/2003 MUTALAU SHOW DAY, A BIG DAY The Mutalau Show Day which will be held on Saturday 25 October 2003 is one of the biggest event on Niue each year. This event of this nothern village in Niue always attract large number of visitors. There will also be some Mutalau decendants resident in New Zealand and Australia who will be going home for this major event. As usual agricultural produce will be on display, as well as handicrafts, and of course there will be heaps of food plus many more activities. It is not too late for you to book your travel today so you can experience the true spirit of this annual Mutalau event. Polynesian Airlines flys to Niue directly from Auckland and also from Samoa, CLICK HERE to make your bookings, and buy your ticket online.
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6/10/2003 FISHING VENTURE COMES WITH A PLANT The Government of Niue, Sealord and Reef Shipping had agreed to form up a fishing joint venture. This joint venture will allow fishing boats of Sealord/Reef to fish within Niue's 200 miles exclusive economic zone. There is also a fish processing plant which will be built on Niue. This venture is also expected to create job opportunities for Niueans. NBN wish this venture all the best for the future.
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01/09/2003 KRYPTON OKESENE ELECTED COMMON ROLL MP Retired but still practicing medical technician Krypton Okesene from Tuapa is the winning candidate of the by-election in Niue yesterday. The provisional result provided by the Chief Electoral Officer of the Justice Department is as follow; OKESENE, Krypton - 236
REX, Lofa - 181
MAGATOGIA, Kupa - 140
MAKANI, Ricky - 115
PULEOTI, Alan T - 77
TAGALOAILUGA, Herman - 38
The election of Krypton Okesene is not expected to change the balance of power in the Fale Fono. NBN wish to congratulate Krypton Okesene and wishing him all the best for the future.
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28/08/2003 PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM WITH A PACIFIC ISLAND FLAVOUR So much has been said about how Niue should host the forum. The Pacific Islands Forum(PIF) is a Pacific Islands gathering, and it must always have a Pacific Islands flavour. The last forum held in Auckland seems to have lost part of its value and relevance, usually associated with its strong Pacific Islands culture. Although New Zealand is considered as one of the key players in Pacific issues, it does lack the ability to host the forum in a fashion which clearly demonstrate itself as part of the Pacific Islands family. New Zealand fails to build into the PIF programme a strong New Zealand culture. The lacking of culture in the Auckland PIF clearly weaken the true spirit of this Pacific gathering. Niue must host the Pacific Islands Forum in a Niuean way, with a true Niuean culture. Niue must not change its culture and the way it do things to suit the PIF, but it is the PIF that should change to suit Niue.
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24/08/2003 PACIFIC ISLANDS FORUM 2004 ON NIUE The Pacific Islands Forum 2004 will be held in Niue at the same time next year. This was confirmed from the forum held in Auckland. Hon Premier Young Vivian is very excited and have promised that the Paific Islands Forum 2004 will be quite an unique experience with a Niue flavour. New Zealand have agreed to donate NZD$0.5 million and Australia NZD$200,000 to help Niue with the costs of hosting the forum. While critics have voiced doubt about Niue's ability to host such an event ususally attended by over 300 delegates, questions should now be asked whether is there is a real need for that so many delegates to attend the forum. Hosting the forum on Niue provide an unique opportunity for the Pacific Islands Forum for "right sizing", removing "access weight", and allow it to fight at a leaner and lighter weight. The "access weight" are the officials and delegates who are not really required to be there. The same group also tend to blur the vision of the leaders, hiding what the leaders need to see clearly which will enable them to determine what really needed to be done. The planning for the Pacific Islands Forum 2004 is already under way, and this opportunity will also benefit Niue's economy.
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7/08/2003 SOUL ON THE ROCK WILL ROCK The Soul on the Rock musical project is set to rock on the rock in early 2005. Popular Niue artists based in New Zealand and Australia will join the talents on Niue for about one week to play music, perform drama, show case arts, play sports and just meet with each others as one big family. This is a great opportunity for overseas born Niueans and those who have been away from home to touch base with the country of their heritage and establish stronger links to their roots, thus completing the process of being Niuean by standing on your land. CLICK HERE for further information on this important project Soul on the Rocknbn
27/07/2003 NBN UPDATES IS BACK No updates during the past two months due to commitments of our personnel on professional developments. So expect to see some changes and improvements to how we deliver the business news to you.
Anyway, during the past two months nothing major happened, apart from some sad events to some key figure in the Niue business and political arena.
The Niue national budget for the 2003/2004 fiscal year was passed last week, NBN will analyse this budget to determine how much it will help the businesses on Niue. The Pacific Forum will be held in Auckland New Zealand next month, we will also try and find out how Niue will respond and react to the current issues in the Pacific, dominated by the events in the Solomon Islands and other important events. NBN will aso try to find out whether Pacific Island states are benefiting from free trade, or it is strangling the smaller states. So stay tune.nbn
17/04/2003 FUTURE OF NIUE'S ECONOMY LOOKING STRONGER The future of Niue's economy will continue to get stronger and stronger despite opposition politicians voicing confusing, conflicting and contradicting statements. The population issue should not be continued as a factor to be used as the main reason for Niue not being able to progress with its economic aspirations.
Being smart, creative and innnovative is the clue in Niue's current drive to improve its economy. Already signs are now looking good, with tourism growing stronger, also both the vanilla and fisheries projects are also receiving positive support from major funding agencies.
Niue's Premier Hon Young Vivian and his Minister for Economic Development and Planning Hon Bill Vakaafi Motufoou are very happy with the progress made in these sectors. There is now going to be more efforts spend towards formulating and implementing economic management policies.
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17/04/2003 BUY NIUE TARO BUY NIUE TARO There is a fresh consignment of Niue taro which have just landed in Auckland. Please hurry as there are limited stock of the popular Niue taro variety, available only from the Mellow Foods, 180B James Fletcher Drive, Otahuhu, Auckland. Price of only NZD$44 per bag. Further details contact motuz@xtra.co.nz .
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17/03/2003 NIUE BUSINESS NEWS WRONGLY ACCUSED
NBN was a sleeping "dog" for the past 4 weeks, but was awaken when IUSN start throwing stones at the wrong people. The availability of a paper on the Internet, the paper was submitted by NITC at an ITU workshop.
This paper focuses on Niue's experience in its relationship with IUSN, as Niue tried to work closely on matters of mutual interest. NBN has been wrongly accused, with IUSN claiming that NBN has published the said article on our web site
NBN never published the article and never published the link to the article, this accusation is baseless, and have caused the whole NBN Team extreme stress.
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17/03/2003 INDUSTRY 20: MANUFACTURE OF WOOD AND OF PRODUCTS OF WOOD AND CORK
Logging of native tree species in Niue has been in practice for the past 80 years. The Niue house in the olden days is made from baked limestone also known as puga, reinforced with kafika timber.
At this stage most of the timber required for construction is imported. Logging of native trees is only for making furniture, and is strictly controlled through selective logging, where one or two trees will be logged.
Niue Timber Products operating out of their Tuila Sawmill is fully equipped with machines for timber production.
Note: that this series on industries in Niue is based on the Industrial Classification of Industries Revision 3 [ISIC REV.3]nbn
22/02/2003 INDUSTRY: MANUFACTURE OF WEARING APPAREL; DRESSING AND DYEING OF FUR
There are small ventures involved in manufacturing shirts and dresses, only for the local market. However some of these garments are bought by visitors, or bought as gifts for visitors. Most Niue women knows how to sew, as sewing is included in the syllabus of Home Economics at Niue High School. There were also community run schemes, which help teach women how to sew.
About 10 years ago, this sector was marred by a proposal from a Hongkong businessman who turn up at the Fale Fono with a plan of importing cheap Chinese labour to manufacture jeans. About 500 workers was planned to be brought into Niue to work in this scheme. This proposal surface at the time Niue was going through some hard times in terms of finance, with the Minister of Finance at that time Sani Lakatani, calling this "a blessing from heaven". However investigations shows that this proposal is the act of high flying con artists, with immigration as a hidden agenda behind the scheme. Organisers of the scheme are expecting to collect fees from those willing to become employees, as coming into Niue will enable the workers to obtain New Zealand citizenship. On a final note, the address of the company is not where one can find a huge factory, but just a home address in Hongkong.
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09/02/2003 INDUSTRY: MANUFACTURE OF FOOD PRODUCTS AND BEVERAGES
Traditionally Niue is rich with various methods for food preparations for any different taste, purpose and occasion. Today most of these food preparation methods remain very much part of the unique Niuean way, which can only be best enjoyed in a Niuean occasion. It is true that the Niuean food will only offer its very best taste if it is prepared under the present of the strong Niuean culture and traditions ?in other words prepared by Niueans themselves. The ota, or marinated raw fish is one unique Niuean dish, although it have now become international with the taste completely different from the Niuean original. Niue also have a technology for producing high grade arrowroot, and have different food such as pitako, takihi and faikai that are produce and sell at the market and food stalls on village show days.
Niue was more active in this sector in the past compared to the present. In the 70s the defunct Niue Development Board operate the food processing factory at Fonuakula, the same premises now being use as offices of the Public Works Department and Department for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. In the above factory where passionfruit, limes and other fruit juices were extracted and exported to the New Zealand market. The company Niue Products, one of the pioneer of producing canned coconut cream in the Pacific was the last food processing operation to utilize the NDB factory. Niue Product actually started their operation in the building of the old family store of Cook Islander Arumaki Strickland in Alofi North. Niue Product shifted their operation to the Cook Islands, and later on move on to Samoa. It is believed that some of the present canned coconut cream products are being developed utilizing the technology developed by Niue Products. Niue Products and NDB also produce soft drinks for the local market. Russel Kars Ltd also produce their own sausages.
At the present there is little activity in this sector, although there is still a huge potential to produce for export overseas. The Pacific Way Bar owned and operated by M K Viviani of Hakupu is may be the only company that is still active in this sector, brewing beer under a their very own brand name Fiafia Larger.
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05/02/2003 POLYNESIAN AIRLINES CONFIDENT WITH NIUE MARKET
The direct flight from Auckland to Niue of Polynesian Airlines which started at the end of October last year is becoming popular with tourists visiting Niue on holiday or just visiting friends and families. The flights was actually a diversion of some of the airline's flights from Auckland to Samoa. The strong demand for airline seats is causing Polynesian Airlines to think about adding more flights to the Niue route. Polynesian Airlines is flying to Niue under a five years arrangement, with some help from the New Zealand Government.
Tourist traffic to Niue need to build up constantly in order to keep Polynesian Airlines happy to keep on flying to Niue. The number of non-Niuean tourists may take a while to build up. Therefore an estimated 21,000 Niueans now living overseas should have at least 2,000 of them returning home to Niue each year as tourists to help contribute to the economy of the country. It is seen that this is the best way overseas Niueans can help their country. This model should be utilised by Niue to receive some benefits from its overseas citizens as the era of the "remittances economy" is no longer significant in Niue, compared to its neighbours Samoa and Tonga. Studies commissioned by the International Monetrary Fund(IMF) found that Niueans are sending more money overseas then what they receive. This model involves Niueans migrating overseas for education and employment, once well established, return back as tourists and help contribute to the economy of the country. Some can return back and set up their businesses with their own capital. The ultimate goal of this model is for overseas Niueans to become successful entrepreneurs with strong links to other business structures. At this stage the level of Niuean business calibre overseas is very minimal, Niueans need to become more active in this arena.
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03/02/2003 MINING INDUSTRY
At the moment there is no mining activity being carried out in Niue. However during the past there have been mineral exploration being conducted by an Australian company. Rock samples was collected from holes, drilled deep into the hard rock limestone on Niue. The analysis from rock samples supported by high reading of radio activity on Niue, do suggest that there may be some uranium deposits in Niue. The debate from an environment point of view is that even if Niue do have uranium, mining it will be difficult. Uranium may be below the water lense, a resource which provide to the daily needs of each Niuean, whether for drinking, washing or cleaning. If mining is going to happen, keeping the water lense free from any pollutant will be the greatest challenge. Read more info about this issue in here.
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26/01/2003 FISHING INDUSTRY
Fishing is also one of the major activity of the subsistence sector in Niue, contributing nutrition to a family diet. Women collect sea shells and also sometimes fish from the reef using a fishing rod. A household which own a canoe have more opportunity to catch more fish, especially the deep sea varieties and the big fish such as tuna, and wahoo. At times when electricity have yet to reach the outer villages, a fisherman catching a lot of fish normally have to share the surplus to the extended family, friends and neighbours. Today fishermen still fish from their canoes, while the new aluminium boat is also being used, cost of fuel tend to limit the use of boats. However there are a few fishermen who supply fish to some of the restaurants and cafes in Niue. The Government have issued licenses to some foreign fishing vessels to fish in Niue’s 200 miles exclusive economic zone. The New Zealand Royal Air Force provide surveillance operation to reduce illegal fishing on Niue’s sea area. Last year the Korean Government donated two second hand fishing vessels for Niue, following the on site inspection carried out last year by Hon Minister Bill Vakaafi, the decision have yet to be announced whether the Government is going to accept this offer from Korea.
The sea is the biggest resource Niue have, and this resource have yet to be fully utilised. In Niue's 200 miles exclusive economic zone also are two reefs Antiope and Beveridge, both reefs are visible above sea level only at lower tide. The last time licensed commercial fishing boat was up at Beveridge, in late 80s by an Australian Peter Smith, and mid 90s by the fishing boat of Tongan based Peter Warner. In the meantime the Government is also interested in exploring the viability of establishing a tuna fishing venture, mainly for exporting tuna to the lucrative Asian market.
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21/01/2003 INDUSTRIES IN NIUE ARE FULL OF LIFE AND POTENTIALS, BUT LACKING PROPER ATTENTION
Looking at Niue from a wider angle, Niue itself is full of life, full of opportunities and potentials where other nations do not have. It is may be the aspirations of Niue’s own citizens for a tomorrow that is better than today that tend to be more dominant in the way we think about our country Niue. Today most of the aid donors such as New Zealand and Australia including regional and international organizations have reached a conclusion, and have openly commented that Niue is no longer viable because of a lower population. These conclusions are baseless, made by a few inexperienced and short sighted diplomats, who have run out of ideas and under pressure from their political masters to come up with a creditable blue print to add sparks to their already impracticable foreign policies for Niue. New Zealand have commissioned a group of experts to undertake another review of Niue, now focusing on maintaining a living community on Niue.
Let us look across the economy of Niue, and identify and briefly evaluate the performance of each industrial sector.
Agriculture
This is one of the main sectors of Niue’s economy, even though that Niue is exporting little agricultural products or generating less revenue from it. The subsistence sector, that is people growing crops for their own consumption, is huge in Niue. This is why there is a saying in Niue, that even without money one can still survive on Niue. It was reported in the Niue Agricultural Census conducted in 1989, that there were 446 agricultural holdings of which 54 run by women, and most had some form of involvement in the subsistence sector. Some households grow crops only for their own consumption.
The major crops now considered as revenue earners of Niue’s economy are taros, vanilla, coconuts and vegetables. In the 70s passion fruit and limes were the main exports, however these were wiped out by cyclones and droughts. Pawpaw or papaya grow very well in Niue and some has been used for feeding pigs but most will be left to rot. There is also an abundance of breadfruit trees and when in season, most will also be left to rot. Bananas grows very well on Niue, this crop used to be one of the export but been banned because of pests. The same thing happened to sweet potato.
There is abundance of nonu(noni) supply on Niue, but the production and exporting mechanisms have yet to be fully developed.
Forestry
Forestry has been one of the areas that received so much development attention during the past 10 years. New Zealand channeled some of their aid towards planting trees for producing timbers in the future. The success of this project does not look good, the tree species planted does not seem to grow well in Niue. The logging of native trees during the past 30 years has been done mainly for local use, although there were some exported mainly for making furniture. The timber produce from kafika is the hardest and strongest, that once dried it is impossible to drive a nail through it. (Please note our look into industries are work in progress)
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13/01/2003 THE WORST AND MOST NEGATIVE EVENTS OF 2002
THE WORST AND MOST NEGATIVE EVENTS OF 2002 is largely dominated
by events and activities that are directly connected to the political
forefront of the country.
First on the list was the financial crisis
caused by deficit budgets in previous years, Government manage to avoid it, but problem still around in the next fiscal year - drastic cuts in expenditure in subsequent years is a must. Q-Tel who took over the
leasing of Niue phone lines from APT, ran out of cash owing monies to Niue,
one of the factor pushing Niue into a fiancial crisis. Although there were proposed
actions planned to reduce expenditure by reducing the number of working days,
at the end a huge relief to everyone , no policies that was implemented that would have
directly affected the livelihood of some workers and their families. Hon
Premier Young Vivian and his Minister of Finance Hon Toke Talagi promised
the whole nation that no public servant will be laid off. The lesson here
for the public is to elect into power MPs who demonstrate good and strong
leadership abilities - not just anyone who say the good things and make good
promises. Hon Toke Talagi's first budget was defeated in the first reading,
pushing Hon Premier Young Vivian's Government into a crisis. Vivian's second
in command, Deputy Premier Sani Lakatani also voted against the budget.
Premier Vivian quickly restore order in his faction by sacking Lakatani
and appointing Tuapa Assemblyman Hon Fisa Pihigia as Lakatani's replacement.
Lakatani's action may also be seen as his attempt to re-ignite his come back
to take over the top job as Premier of Niue, but this time it failed.
Lakatani
return from the United States after meeting a Korean businessman who is keen on
building a "Holy City" on Niue. The deal includes Niue providing land for the
Holy City, in return the Koreans will supply Niue with an aeroplane. Lakatani
is no longer with the Governement, and Vivian's Cabinet have already rejected the
Holy City proposal. Religious groups in Niue have also voice their objection to this
proposal. Last was heard that Lakatani and his political follower Hunukitama Hunuki
were on a funded trip to Korea, and have return to meet with the public to promote the
Holy City proposal.
The failing cellular telephone system use in the outer villages continue
to be a major concern for communication needs of the nation, and the solution is still
yet to be seen although Telecom Niue have concentrate on upgrading part of the
phone system in Alofi into a digital platform.
The probe into the transfer of
the DOT NU domain to William Semich and his organisations, have revealed what roles
some local MPs played in the whole setup. MPs involved were belittled by the lack of
appropriate and sound reasoning for their actions, comments like "I was talking to a tourist when
the decision was made". These actions are totally unacceptable as ethical standards
required from MPs elected to hold public office in Niue, who have a moral duty to serve
for the interests of Niue. At this stage it is yet to be seen whether this probe
into DOT NU will continue, a silence for over a year does demonstrate that the Government
may no longer wish to pursue the matter further.
Finally we have taro exports, which is now
taken back by the Government. The handling and processing of the taros at both ends still
have problems. This crop which provide the only income source for some families in Niue is an
ongoing issue and it is hope that ways to improve this should be identified and implemented soon.
Although we have seen the worst and negative events, Niue's abilities to keep these situation
under control and at the same time find solutions and settlement, is seen as the best
achievement for all.
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12/01/2003 THE HOT AND POSITIVE EVENTS OF 2002
THE HOT AND POSITIVE EVENTS of 2002 is top by the Polynesian
Airlines direct air service to Niue opening up opportunities
for Niue's economy to improve. Overseas Niueans were able to
return home, more tourists were also able to visit Niue. Vanilla
production is seen as another avenue for Niue to diversify into,
Government is seen as very supportive and have provided training
to interested farmers. Niue was taken off the OECD "black list"
after repealing the offshore banking legislations. However OECD
demands is seen as "bulleying" to smaller players like Niue in the
lucrative business of harmful tax competition, also known as
offshore banking. The election of Hon Young Vivian to be Niue's
Premier is also seen as very positive as it help change the approach
and policies at Government Level.
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05/01/2003 LOOKING BACK AT 2002, THE YEAR THAT WAS....
Let us look back at 2002 at the major events which help shape the future of Niue, it is important to note the happenings which are hot and the ones which are not.
On 26 February 2002, Niue Business News also known as NBN was born, thank God we are still here today. NBN came into existence with a simple philosophy of passing on knowledge and information about anything and everything that is related to doing business on Niue or doing business with the Niueans. The target audience of this service is mainly non-Niueans outside of Niue who are in great need of information. There seem to be something unique to Niueans that being small, everyone assume that everyone knows about this and that, and hardly anyone bother about relaying that information to those outside of the “Niueans?group. So NBN is here for this sole purpose. (pls note article is work in progress)
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