Pictured above are, from left: Nikolao Pula, Dylan Ewing, Barry Forsgren, Andy Forsgren, Tuai Auva'a, Adolfo Montenegro, Jeff Shively and Governor Togiola Tulafono.

It was a great night at the 2nd Annual Chamber of Commerce Awards Dinner. Those who attended won't soon forget the spirited remarks and the thrill of the award announcements.

This is a large file and it might take about 3 minutes to download depending on your connection speed.  When the file becomes visible you will see a group of pictures in a black area.  At the top, right of the black area is a set of arrows.  Click in the >| sign to move one picture at a time or click on the > to start the pictures changing about every 5 seconds.  At the bottom of the black area is a slide bar that allows you to move the picture group around to see more pictures.  You can click on any picture to bring it to the front.  Have fun.

Policy & Activities Committee Meeting –  Scheduled for 15 September 2009

Pacific Trade Delegation Update

Summary The purpose of this report is to provide a qualitative update to the committee on the recent Manukau City Pacific Trade Delegation led by His Worship the Mayor.  A future report will outline the quantitative outcomes of the delegation as businesses are still in the process of developing or finalising work resulting from the visit.

"There is money to be had!" stated Herbert Thweatt at the July 15th meeting of the American Samoa Chamber of Commerce. As the American Samoa Small Business Development Center Director, Mr. Thweatt was asked to speak to the Chamber regarding the new economic reality in the territory. In his presentation, Mr. Thweatt gave the members a host of information regarding multiple funding sources for people interested in starting or growing their small business. A copy of the U.S. Congress H.R. 2352 was distributed showing efforts by legislators to pass the funding bill for a variety of projects from the establishment of veterans business centers and native American entrepreneurship to women's business and SCORE program improvements. Most interesting of these is an initiative under Title VII of the resolution that would give Small Business Development Centers the ability to make small loans to qualified applicants.