Showing resilience and fortitude

Vanuatu is looking to deepen its strong bonds with China as it recovers from Cyclone Pam

Although currently undergoing a widespread rehabilitation campaign in the wake of Cyclone Pam-one of the worst natural disasters in the archipelago's history-Vanuatu is showing its resilience and fortitude by continuing on the path to sustainable development.

One of the only Pacific islands to have seen consistently steady growth in the past 10 years, Vanuatu is slated to achieve great things as it benefits from the economic knock-on effects from thriving neighbors, Japan, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

Christopher Edmonds, Asia Development Bank senior economist and lead author of the ADB report said at the launch of the bank's latest Pacific Economic Monitor: "The outlook for the Pacific region's major economic partners remains relatively robust, which will have positive spin-offs to some countries in the region, including Vanuatu."

For a country with resources that include copra, beef, cocoa, timber, kava and coffee, and with expanding tourism, agriculture, offshore financial services, fisheries and forestry sectors, Vanuatu has become extremely valued as an investment destination. A stable government, with welcoming locals, a robust and friendly banking sector, investment opportunities, low inflation, organic produce, a high standard of living and an ever-growing tourism market have all combined to put the country on the map, while a business-friendly government works to make doing business easy.

Prime Minister Joe Natuman explained how important Chinese investment is to Vanuatu.

"China is a very important development partner," he said.

"We established relations with them from the beginning, as China was one of the countries that supported us in our bid to gain independence in 1982.

"China spoke on our behalf at the United Nations Committee of 24. Our relationship has been friendly and cordial. They have given us a lot of assistance over the years. We have many projects funded by China either through grant aid or soft loans. Right from the start the Chinese government assisted us with a soft loan for our new parliament building as well as assisting in the building of our University of the South Pacific Emalus Campus in the capital Port Vila. With Chinese help, we were able to build the Agriculture College in Santo. More recently, the infrastructure officials have been able to build new highways and a seaport in Santo."

China is also helping Vanuatu in the run up to hosting the 2017 Pacific Mini Games.

"This will certainly help a lot, and we may request help in sports administration," Natuman said, listing the other areas that Chinese help would be appreciated. "We would certainly welcome more assistance and investment from the Chinese in the fisheries sector," he said. "We established a fisheries processing plant some years ago and we need to see it in operation. I recently had a meeting with the Chinese ambassador, and the managing director of the facility, to see how we can fast-track this process.

"We welcome more investment in agriculture and fisheries and in particular, beef production, as Vanuatu beef is one of the highest quality meats in the world.

"There are other facilities and islands, such as Erromango, ready to be developed for agriculture and beef production. The Chinese are in Santo, where they have established a palm-oil facility. They have also helped us in rice farming on some of the outer islands. The main sectors to grow the economy that the Chinese can cooperate with would be tourism, fisheries, agriculture and infrastructure."

Ham Lini Vanuaroroa, deputy prime minister and minister for tourism, trade, commerce and ni-vanuatu business, said: "Tourism is very important for Vanuatu because it contributes to between 20 percent and 30 percent of GDP."

"For the last five years, prospects have been looking good. Annual air and cruise visitor arrivals were at record levels in 2013 and the sector provides formal jobs for more than 6,500 people," he said.

"The Vanuatu government's Trade Policy Framework outlines the importance of tourism for Vanuatu and the need to capitalize on this sector by creating stronger economic links to the local economy, for example, with agriculture," he added.

Building on the recommendations of the TPF, the Vanuatu Strategic Tourism Action Plan recommends a number of options to strengthen tourism performance in the areas of governance, infrastructure, marketing, investment promotion, product development and standards and human resource development.

"We want to celebrate Vanuatu's culture and environment, empower its people and captivate its visitors throughout the islands," the deputy prime minister said. "The Vanuatu vision not only promotes increased tourism arrivals, but more importantly embeds this tourism growth in a robust cultural and development-oriented context. Through tourism Vanuatu has a unique chance to preserve and promote its precious cultural assets and deliver sustainable business models that can provide real long-term benefits."

InFocus provided the story

Vanuatu is one of the world's most awe-inspiring places. Photos Provided to China Daily

(China Daily 06/01/2015 page5)