The tiny island state of Niue lies in the Polynesian South Pacific (see guest blogger Phil Howison’s breakdown of Micronesia, Melanesia and Polynesia) and has a population of less than 1,700. Though sovereign since 1974, Niue’s foreign affairs and national defense are managed by New Zealand. Nevertheless, Niue established diplomatic relations with China last December. The economy of the island is tiny with a GDP of less than $8m. Like many small nations in the Asia-Pacific tourism is becoming an important sector.
This past week Niue has twice appeared in the international media. A total of 500 laptops from the One Laptop Per Child Program were distributed to every Niuean child. Furthermore, Niue served as host to this year’s meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum. Although I have heard of all the other Pacific Island nations, Niue is new to me. Two mentions in one week deserved a blog post I thought. If anyone has been to Niue I would love to hear about your experience. Leave a trackback or a comment. To learn more about South Pacific issues please see our Oceania Day series.
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Brent added these pithy words on 27 Aug 08 at 3:06 amI recently heard that Niue is trying to become the first smoke-free nation.
Alfred Russel Wallace added these pithy words on 28 Aug 08 at 7:34 pmHumorous – but the notion that 1700 people – twice the size of the average US school – should be treated as a nation is rather hard to swallow.
Joe Jones added these pithy words on 28 Aug 08 at 8:08 pmTheir economy is also largely driven by .nu domain registrations, right? I seem to recall that it’s a popular territory for French porn sites, since “nu” means “nekkid” in French.
DJ added these pithy words on 31 Aug 08 at 3:12 amIs that the same thing as .mu.nu domain names? A lot of bloggers have gone to that. What is the advantage?
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