Islandsbusiness.com, 9-1-2007
The big trends all have positive and negative potentials and the changes will be seen as good or bad depending on one's point of view. Overall, however, the winnings look to be on the side of foreign interests and the losses to be heaviest among indigenous Pacific Islanders. We assume there are no major calamities this year-and no major windfalls.First, independence will shrink a little further. External involvement in the Pacific Islands is increasing. The big international organisations controlled by the major powers led by USA (World Bank, Asian Development Bank, World Trade Organisation, G8, OECD, etc) are all pushing for changes that will lead to more external control of Pacific Islands governments, economies, commerce and people. More of the big decisions are being made from abroad, though often presented as local decisions.
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