materialize after five years or so—again, well after the government initiating the project has completed its first four year term. Likewise, big investments in transport or manufacturing require extensive periods of time before they can be profitable and so people should not expect ‘healthy’ cash flow or any tangible result from such investments after only a few years of operation. Big projects require money and time and therefore advance and proper planning is crucial for the success of the projects. During the consultations the name or the title of the plan was also discussed and although several names were mentioned, there seems to be a strong argument to revert back to the word ‘Plan’ rather than ‘Strategies’. The main reason for using the word ‘Plan’ instead of ‘Strategies’ is primarily because the word Plan encompasses many topics or concepts such as ‘issues’, ‘strategies’, activities, outputs, and so forth. The word ‘Strategies’, on the other hand, refers simply to “ways to address or solve constraints, strategically”. That is, when we talk of the Plan we are referring to a document that is more encompassing and complete. The word ‘sustainable’ was also well supported by the people attending the consultations because they argued that development needs to be sustained or on-going—i.e. not a ‘one-off’ or unsustained activity. So the final name of this plan comes to: National Sustainable Development Plan (NDSP)—a comprehensive plan for sustainable development. It is important to note that most of the key policy areas and issues indicated and raised in the NDS 2004-07 are repeated here though arranged in a slightly different format and under different ‘grouping’ names. That is there is continuity in most programmes or activities though the emphasis may be slightly different. In essence the thrust of this plan is to foster and secure robust economic growth so that people standards of living would improve. In this respect the two productive sectors that will receive particular attention is the fisheries and the tourism sectors. The roles and objectives of other sectors or ministries will therefore be made to align or support these two productive sectors. For instance, the environment laws and regulations will be formulated and enforced in a manner that the fisheries and tourism developments are not necessarily impeded but rather enhanced and sustained. The key word here is ‘sustainable’. Likewise, the focus of the communication and the works ministries should be on infrastructures that would support fisheries and tourism, e.g. maintenance of sea ports and airports, terminals, wharves, etc. This is not to say that the government should focus only on the two sectors, rather the idea here is that for ‘economic growth’ purposes, these two areas, viz., fisheries and tourism have the greatest potential for development and sustained growth because of Kiribati comparative advantage in both. These two sectors were in fact stated in the previous NDS, p. 22, “Growth-focused strategies include stabilizing population growth….. …and promoting private investment in marine resources, tourism, etc”. But knowing the expensive infrastructures and capital required for both industries the government should take the lead, at least in funding and preparing the required infrastructures. Once the physical and institutional infrastructures are in place then the government role is to attract and encourage the private sector to carry out fisheries and tourism businesses.
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