NEWSLETTER
FEBRUARY 2007

2007 has started off as a busy year for the Chamber with a number of important issues on the agenda  that have required considerable input and discussion. The main issue has been the Minimum Wage increase Bill as proposed by the House of Representatives Speaker in the US. The Chamber wrote to the Speaker requesting that American Samoa be excluded from the Bill, it gave support to the efforts of the Governor and our Congressman with their lobbying efforts in Washington, and the Chamber President testified before the Fono and gave support to the Senate Bill as introduced by the Senate President to maintain the Fair Labor Standards Act to review the minimum wage every two years.

The Chamber took a position to recommend that a Senate Bill to apply a 10 cents excise tax on all imported bottles of water to provide revenue support for next year’s South Pacific Arts Festival should not proceed. Instead it recommended that funds required should be applied for from various Federal grants after a concise budget has been prepared to determine exactly how much money is required to fund the Festival.

All the Chamber sub committees have been busy. The Membership committee has done well to raise our membership to 51, the Tax committee has prepared a further letter for the Governor recommending the adoption of the US Tax Code as a means of encouraging investment by non US corporations. The Tourism committee is preparing a strategy for tourist industry development and a position paper to submit to Government with recommendations to improve the industry.

The local economy continues to remain flat with auto dealers, building supplies companies and grocery retailers all reporting sluggish conditions. Gasoline prices remain steady at $2.66/gallon. Some areas of the economy received a boost with the arrival during the month of the cruise ship the Queen Mary and two other large cruise ships with passengers from each vessel being welcomed by singing and dance groups and then spending a day sight seeing and buying souvenirs.

The first general members meeting was held during the month with some of the objectives being to advise members what the Chamber Board had achieved to date, what were the main issues that had been addressed, and to encourage the use of the web site by members as a means to promote their products and services to international audiences. Members had the opportunity to express their views and raise issues of concern. The lack of economic development and the lack of progress in expanding the tourist industry by government were the main areas of concern and these are both issues that the Chamber Board has addressed and it is actively pursuing.

The quarterly meeting with the Governor and some of his senior staff is schedule for March at a time and date yet to be advised by his office.

To all our members please make use of and take advantage of our web site.

David Robinson
President