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MULTI-PARTY GOVERNMENT

SUVA, Fiji (May 31, 1998 - PACNEWS)---Fiji's opposition leader Jai Ram Reddy says a multi-party government will help political parties move away from their obsession with race and become more issue-oriented.

Reddy, who attended a Suva seminar on multi-party government last week, told Network News that he believes a government made of two or more political factions will be a good development for Fiji.

It will lead to a government consisting of several ethnic communities, he said, and also will lead to a multi-ethnic opposition.

The three day seminar, which took place in Suva last week, featured speakers from Switzerland, New Zealand and South Africa, who discussed their experiences with multi-party governments.

1998/1999 BUDGET

NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga (May 31, 1998 - PACNEWS)---Tonga's Minister of Finance, Tutoatasi Fakafanua, last week presented Tonga's proposed 1998/1999 national budget of 129 million pa'nga ($US 80. 4 million) to the Legislative Assembly.

Of the total, 97 million pa'anga ($US 60.5 million) constitutes cash expenditures, while the remaining 32 million pa'anga ($US 19.9 million) represents in kind expenditures, Radio Tonga reports.

According to Fakafanua, a key feature of the new budget is the beginning of a series of tax-tariff reforms to be implemented over several years.

The long-term objective is to shift major government revenue collection from a focus on import duties to a broad based sales tax, in efforts to encourage further private sector business development.

Among the new fiscal policies for 1998/1999 will be a 50 percent reduction in import duty on all petroleum products, to lessen local business operating costs.

Other tax...

NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga (May 31, 1998 - PACNEWS/Ioane)---The Tongan government has given the green light to offshore sand dredging, but the Ministry of Lands, Survey and Natural Resources says additional funding is required before the new project can proceed.

Ministry Secretary Dr. Savae Latu says the proposed site for the dredging is an area northwest of Fafaa Island, near the capital of Nuku'alofa.

The ministry says a suction dredge will carry out the mining, avoiding any harmful operations that might disturb the marine ecology of the area.

The search for alternative sources of sand for construction and other purposes resulted from increased fear of sand depletion and land erosion near traditional land-based sand pit and beach mining areas.

VISITORS BUREAU BOARD

By Lindablue F. Romero

SAIPAN, Northern Mariana Islands (May 28, 1998 - Saipan Tribune)---Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio yesterday said he will wait for the new board members of the Marianas Visitors Bureau to assume office to set the direction of the tourism agency.

At the same time, the governor said the CNMI government has to be cautious in tapping tourists from mainland China even if it wants to diversify the diminishing tourism market for the Northern Marianas.

A new set of board members for MVB will assume the post once the Senate passes the bill that will abolish the bureau and convert it into a public corporation run by representatives from the tourism industry.

MVB has urged Tenorio to begin diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China to take advantage of the huge number of potential travelers from mainland China.

But any prelude to establishing diplomatic ties with China would have to go through the US...