Election boosts Fiji's economic hopes
Associated Press
SUVA, Fiji — Signs of an economic revival began to emerge in Fiji this week as voters went to the polls to restore democratic rule to the Pacific island nation.
Associated Press
More than 400,000 voters are expected to participate in the week-long general election.
Two fishermen unloaded a catch of sunfish yesterday at the Fiji Fish Company wharf in Suva, Fiji. Fiji's economy, after falling sharply following a May 2000 coup, is showing some hope of growth.
The return to democracy following a coup last year has encouraged foreign investors. A group of California investors announced a $68 million resort hotel project in Suva.
"We feel very positive about the future of Fiji. Our investors are committed to doing business in Fiji and are committed to the future of tourism in Fiji," Pacific Palms Estates Managing Director Mitch Hagerman said.
Japan's Tosa Busan Inc. of Tokyo, which employs 80 Fiji residents to catch skipjack tuna and process it into specialty grilled sashimi, or tataki, will add two boats joining the project to bring the company's investment up to $1.75 million, company director Toru Nakano said.
The investments mark the first hint of a turnaround for the nation where unemployment soared to 12 percent after foreign investors deserted the island nation in the wake of the May 2000 coup by Fijian nationalist gunmen, which ousted the Indian-led government of Mahendra Chaudhry.
The coup leaders said they wanted to take political and economic power away from ethnic Indians, who make up 44 percent of the country's 820,000 people.
Accused of storming parliament during the 2000 coup, George Speight is standing as an election candidate for an extreme nationalist Fijian party. Two other coup plotters are also running in the election, which started Saturday and lasts a week.
As foreign investors left and trading partners such as Australia imposed international trade sanctions, exports and tourism plunged by 40 percent and factories relocated or closed.
At the same time, thousands of skilled ethnic Indian workers fled the country.
Output remains below pre-coup levels. But as voters seek to put the country back on the path to democracy, investors are starting to signal their interest.
