Vanuatu Chamber of Commerce

A brave and resilient businesswoman from Mele, Sylvia has seen her share of struggles and discloses her thoughts and tips to us, in the hope to provide inspiration to others facing the same situations.

“The individual has been picked up by the testing regime, and is now being transferred safely to the isolation facilities at Vila Central Hospital. This is a positive outcome, and shows that Vanuatu is in a good position to deal with this case. We would like to congratulate the NDMO and Ministry of Health for their work in developing and implementing these systems, and for keeping Vanuatu safe,” the business bodies have said in a media release today.

They urge businesses to:

The workshop was attended by Provincial Officers from the Departments of Tourism, Cooperatives, and Industry, along with selected private business owners.

The objective of the workshop was to build capacity that supports the development of business management and technical skills, as well as encourage Ni Vanuatu businesses to develop their ideas and start to diversify their ideas to strengthen their business initiatives.

The training is part of the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Ready project, which is strengthening the environmental and disaster resilience of Pacific Island Countries.

It's understood the Council of Ministers have adopted a report from their Revenue Review Committee, which commits Vanuatu to introducing personal income tax and company tax.

But the Chamber's President, Thomas Bayer, says because so few people in Vanuatu are formally employed, collecting income tax won't be an effective means of raising revenue.

Mr Bayer says he understands the government will also increase the VAT rate to 15 per cent, but he's struggling to confirm the facts.

The VCCI says the requested meeting will follow-up on a letter dated 30 May 2016 on issues relating to tourism, the boar tusk initiative and transfer of Vanuatu Intelligence Unit and others.

For instance, it says under the tourism sector, the VCCI called for the Vanuatu Investment Promotion Authority (VIPA) to reduce business application and renewal fees.

It also seeks to get approval for Air Vanuatu to reduce its fares and for the finalization of the airport upgrade plans with the World Bank.