From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 14, no. 3, July 1999.

The Tonga Chamber of Commerce believes that Tonga should become a signatory to the regional Free Trade Area, and become a member of the World Trade Organisation as soon as possible, said the Chamber president, Paul Karalus.

“Tonga should grasp the Free Trade concept, which is a global initiative, or we will be forgotten again, like with tourism, where we have missed the boat completely, and now we really have to look at other areas—land, sea and human resources.”

Paul believed that some people were reluctant to accept Free Trade, because they are tied up with the idea of Tonga trying to be self sufficient, and that we have to protect our small home market. “But that is not the way the world is going, the world is becoming just one big market place,” he said.  

“It is going to be very traumatic for some people, particularly those who have not yet identified their area of specialisation, and a niche market for their products.

“We have to look at value-added products for export. For example, kava, instead of exporting dried kava roots, why not process it here and then export the kava lactone?” Paul said that the advantage of this approach was that we would be building up an industry which offered employment opportunities and export products with a higher value.

On the positive side of things, Paul believed that the economic recession was turning around, “and it is not because of any government plan, but simply because of people diversifying their production.”

Bogged down

Paul said that government was bogged down with trying to deal with its so-called social obligation to its public service, and the only solution that it had come up with, “is the employing of people to do nothing.”  

Paul said that Tonga had been talking for years about reducing the size of the Public Service, “but there is no definite plan, say a 50 per cent reduction in two years, and retraining for public servants. So when they are talking about downsizing the Public Service, it is all rhetoric that we have heard many times before. But it will not happen because the will power is not there, that sort of decision can be made if the selection of leaders is decided by the Ballot Box, but, of course, we do not have that here,” he said. ▲