From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 3, September 2000.

The saying that one can’t see the wood for the trees, is so appropriate to our situation in Tonga today.

It has been pointed out numerous times, and we can see it with our own eyes, that we are blessed with a good country, where the weather is hospitable, and the soil is so fertile that plants can grow even in the sand.

The people are literate, and generally hard working, but they also like to play and to laugh a lot. We also have a system of government that is the envy of the indigenous people of the Pacific, and perhaps the world. Our system has given us stability but it has also made room for change.

Now the challenge that has been put in front of us is that Tonga has to change its image from being just another under-developed third world country, to an island Kingdom that has an active and healthy economy.

Opportunity

Fortunately for Tonga, we are just walking straight into it.  The political and ethnic upheavals that are taking place in other parts of the Pacific have made Tonga more attractive for foreign investors, and if we play our cards right, we will be able to attract the kind of capital that Tonga needs for its economic development.

The investment by government to acquire land in Hawaii, and to establish markets for Tongan produce in the Samoas, and the formation of a Tongan Corporation offshore to look after this operation is a futuristic move. Tongans are good growers, and could supply the Pacific, with manioke, talo and ‘ufi.

The investment by government in telecommunications, and by allowing two local companies to compete and run our telecommunications services, will help to fire us into cyberspace, the new frontier. For Tonga to take the plunge, and to put in place cutting edge telecommunications technology by next year will be a major achievement.

What is left for us now is to take advantage of this investment and exploit the opportunities.