Yap Summit Community Sector - Yap State Government

YAP STATE GOVERNMENT
achievement of the Goal, the almost complete absence of purchasing chains in the local market should be
taken into account preventing the setting of unrealistic targets and Goals.
• For the private sector highlighting links between sectors is particularly important in terms both of
comparative advantages and multiplier effects.
• The domains within the private sector that have been identified as having more economic potential are
the followings: tourism, fisheries, and the IT sector. Export oriented activities have been considered a
realistic solution only applied to fisheries (25% of the world's tuna resources are located within the FSM
Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ, and Yap has the main water extension in the FSM). IT initiatives have the
advantage of overcoming logistics and transportation costs that are the first impediment for
internationally traded economic activities in Yap. However, further research should be undertaken in
terms of costs and logistic aspects related to the continuous upgrades in IT technology in relation to costs
of transportation and second hand markets to absorb outdate IT resources.
Private Sector # 2: Improve the competitiveness of the factors of production to promote private sector
development.
strong impediments
Critical aspects were highlighted that may affect the final achievement of the Goal:
• Land tenure is perceived as the major impediment to the development of private sector
entrepreneurship. The impediment has been identified as affecting mainly women entrepreneurship as
they cannot use land as collateral not having direct ownership rights.
Recommendations were made to support the achievement of the Goal:
• A strong emphasis has been placed on the potential of an IT sector development on island.
Private Sector # 3: Improve the environment for FDI and expand entrepreneurial and business development
support services.
strong impediments
Critical aspects were highlighted that may affect the final achievement of the Goal:
• Lack of local skills is perceived as an impediment to the attraction of FDI. This may lead to the import of
foreign workers in relation to FDI, jeopardizing the potential benefits of FDI in Yap, as local employment
trends and the economy won’t fully benefit from foreign investments.
• Lack of local skills has been associated with the rate of failures of Yapese students under scholarship.
[Secretariat Note: The actual causes of failure of Yapese students should be further explored, and other
sources of capacity building should be object of additional research. E.g. voluntarism as knowledge
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