February

2021

NEWS

LETTERVANUATU FOREIGN INVESTMENTPROMOTION AGENCY

Updates, case-studies and key developments

Thinking Investment - Choose Vanuatu

VFIPA Project receives Highest Level Government
Delegation Visits(By Peter Napwatt, CEO VAC & Howard Aru, CEO)(L-R)Mr Robert Osborne (owner of TPL), Hon Prime Minister Bob Loughman,
Mrs Marian Loughman, and Mr Peter Napwatt, CEO VAC

The Honourable Prime Ministerof Vanuatu Hon Bob Loughman
Weibur made a call in August of 2020
“to explore ways to grow Vanuatu’s
economy by using our Land and Water
resources.”

Following the PM’s visit, the Hon
Minister of Trade Hon James Bule
and his delegation also paid a visit on
Thursday 18th February to TPL. He
was extremely impressed with thishuge investment.

On Monday 15th February the Prime
Minister and his entourage weretreated to the reality of one such
undertaking on Santo, a Passionfruit
farm owned by Tropical Plantations
Ltd (TPL).

Earlier, on Sunday 7th February the
Ministry of Agriculture represented
by the First Political Advisor, the DG
and all the Directors under MALFFB
visited TPL to see first-hand theoperations and where line departments
could intervene to assist the farm
diversification programs that willaddress preparations for new andemerging markets to boost Vanuatu’s
Agriculture economy.

Incidentally not many people haveseen a Passionfruit operation of thisscale ever in Vanuatu. As Mr Robert
Osborne clearly explained to the Prime
Minister, with over 40,000 plants
overladen with fruits ready to harvest,
the current farm holds 10% of the total
production of Australia. Maturing
fruits and the flowers are appearing
more aggressively in response to theprevailing weather conditions.

The presence of the PM and his
delegation on Monday 15th February
and the Hon Minister responsible
for Foreign Investments added more
impetus to the preparations leading toa possible export of the first fruit off
TPL towards end of March 2021.
(cont. on pg3)

Vanuatu Foreign Investment Promotion Agency : website: www.investvanuatu.vu

IN THIS ISSUEOUR FEATURED STORIESVFIPA part of the Dubai Expo
Committee
Page 4

Regulations underway for the new
Foreign Investment Act no. 25 of 2019
Page 2

New proposals on land reforms will
be positive for FDI
Page 3

Page 1

Regulations underway for the new Foreign Investment Act no. 25 of 2019
(By Francesca Grillo, Deputy Chair, VFIPA Board)

The new Foreign Investment Act (FIA)that has come into effect last 15th ofJanuary 2020 requires for Regulations
to prescribe (sec. 68) matters that are:(a) required or permitted by the Act;(b) necessary or convenient to beprescribed for carrying out or giving
effect to the Act;and without limiting on the points
above, Regulations may provide for:(a) the Forms to be used in connection
with the Act;(b) the Fees Payable;(c) notifications to the VFIPA CEO ofinvestment activities recorded in theRegister;(d) penalties for offenses against theRegulations.
VFIPA has engaged the assistance of
the Asian Development Bank (ADB)
and other consultants to assist withthe drafting of the regulations andthe work done is now ready to besubmitted to the State Law Office
for its review and final advice to the
Minister.
The new FIA aims at simplifying thevetting of foreign investment activities
by the Agency and switching from an‘approval’ of foreign investments basedon certain criteria to a ‘registration’ ofthem, provided they do not involve
carrying out a prohibited activity,
an activity reserved to citizens or
a restricted activity outside thethresholds permitted by the FIA.
The registration of foreign investment
activities is done for the following
purposes:(a) ensuring that no prohibited orreserved activity is carried out;(b) ensuring that no restrictedactivity is carried out without acertificate of registration detailing theconditions which must be complied to(threshold);Page 2(c) ensuring that foreign investors
benefit of the guarantees provided
by the FIA on expropriation, no lessfavourable treatment, free transfer offunds and investment disputes;(d) ensure that foreign investors areable to benefit from the facilitation
services and support of the Agency;and(e) facilitate the Agency’s monitoringof the carrying out of foreign
investments.
The new Vanuatu Foreign Investment
Promotion Agency (VFIPA)
established under the FIA has thefunction of advising the Ministerand COM on policies and regulatory
framework regarding foreign
investment in Vanuatu, promoting
and registering investments activities,
providing information and assistanceto foreign investors on obtaining
permits, licenses and approvals fromother State departments and agencies
and monitoring the implementation of
investment activities in accordance tonational investment policies.
The Regulations to give effect to
the FIA of 2019 have been carefully
drafted to ensure that the registration,
implementation and variation offoreign investment activities is clear
and easy for both the investors and theVFIPA processing officers and that the
information collected and provided
through the various forms are limited
to what is necessary and convenient
to easily monitor and facilitate theirimplementation.
This work alone is a relevant step toenable the functions of the Agency andto ensure that Vanuatu offers a friendly
and easy access to genuine foreign
investors, with a clear pathway for thestarting and implementation of any
business, as well as compliance withthe regulatory framework in place.

The regulations will provide a better
guide to foreign investors both newand existing.
Summary of Regulations
The following are key areas to takenote of once the Regulations are inplace.
There will be further in depth
awareness on the Regulations once
they are effective in order for all
investors to understand and appreciate
the processes that will now exist for
their investments.
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•

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All applications must be processed
within 15 working days. Any
application that takes longer than
this period must have had a noticeby the office of the CEO to informthe investor on why the process
will take longer than 15 working
days.
All Foreign Investment Approval
Certificates (FIACs) will be issued
once without renewals only
Annual Surveys.
Annual Surveys are submitted
to the Agency by the 28th ofFebruary each year. Failure tolodge an Annual Survey on thedue date will incur high latepenalty fees and cancellation of
the certificate of registration if theAnnual Survey is not filed within 3months from the due date.
Variation application applies in thecase where an investor wishes to
add to or change their investment
activity and change the ownership
structure of the investment.
The investor can apply to theask for a review of the Board’s
decision to reject their investment
application based on an error oflaw.
The Reserved List of Activities
will be reviewed every 2 years
commencing in 2022.

Vanuatu Foreign Investment Promotion Agency : website: www.investvanuatu.vu

(cont. from pg1)

New proposals on land reforms will be positive for FDI

Mr Osborne also delineated to thePrime Minister and his delegation
the preparation work underway tocater for the export of Sliced bananas,
Pineapples and Passionfruit and how
Vanuatu’s farming community stands
to benefit from the export market thisventure will open up.
The Prime Minister also responded
by stating he would also like to bepart of the Banana Supply chain to
the factory in Santo. Honourable MP
Joshua Pikioune who was present
during the PM’s visit also made it his
duty to help his electorate venture
into production of raw materials to
supply TPL as everyone was madeaware that Vanuatu has succumbed tothe burdens of servicing markets weadopted from our colonial Masters like
copra.
Vanuatu is forty years into its
development with a recent changeof status to a developing country, wemust seize the opportunity to develop
New Markets for products where we
can establish our brand and the edge topenetrate high end market.

VFIPA Management Team meeting with Mr NariA discussion with the lands expert Mr
Russell Nari at the VFIPA office saw thepresentation of key land reforms that
may be made to the current Customary
Land Management Act and the tedious
process that currently exists to acquire
new land leases.
Mr Nari’s presentation is the productof continuous consultations that havetaken place by his team to ensure thatthe process to acquiring new land leases
is actually made possible providing
further development opportunities forboth the land owner and the developer.
As it stands, the current Land
Management Act has only brought toeffect 5 new land leases out of over 1000
applications that have been submitted
to the Customary Land Management
Office (CLMO).
These 5 leases mainly were for thedevelopment and or establishment ofclinics, health centers or schools.
Any application for a new land leasehas not come into effect yet being stuckin the current process of acquiring.

(L-R) Ms Beatrice Apablaza Velasquez (wife andpartner of Mr Robert Osborne), PM Loughman
and Mrs Loughman

The active process involved in
the acquiring of a new lease takes

approximately 632 days however
current records show that it takes far
more time to acquire than what isalready in place.
“The current and biggest challenge that
this process hosts is the fact that it isthree separate processes that have been
amalgamated into one process,” said Mr
Nari.
The new proposal cuts down processing
time from 632 to 445 days however
more importantly enables each process
to be transparent and less costly.
The proposals will be part of the billthat will most likely repeal the current
Land Management Act should it bepassed by Parliament later on this year.
The VFIPA CEO and Management
were very happy with the discussions
and are eager to be part of the wider
consultations that Mr Nari and his
team will be carrying out in the next
months as their awareness to the key
stakeholders of the new proposals andthe new proposed bill.

Annual Survey Reminder
All investors are reminded that the Annual Surveys are due on the 28th of February before
COB .
Investors are reminded that submitting your Annual Surveys late will incur high fines.
Ensure that you attach copies of your last 12 months VAT returns, VFSC name registration,
VNPF Employer Certificate and your VNPF Active Employee list.
Vanuatu Foreign Investment Promotion Agency : website: www.investvanuatu.vu

Page 3

Update on Remote Workers
SchemeBy Howard Aru, CEO

Finally, after several months since
we started formally discussing theconcept of Remote Workers (or‘Digital Nomads’) on Wednesday
21st Oct 2020 as an opportunity
to generate ‘fresh money’ into theeconomy, we’ve reached a point
where a Council of Ministers(COM) paper is on its way to COM
in due course.
The concept has undergone
intensive and numerous fora – thehigh-level consultation meetings(HLC) between the private sector
and the Hon Prime Minister andhis team of senior Ministers, theMinistry of Internal Affairs, the
VFIPA Board, VTO, Covid-19
Advisory Team, and numerous
meetings with other stakeholders.

Once the concept is cleared
through COM, a Remote Workers
Implementation Group will be setup to work on the finer details anddrive the idea forward.

to attract high value tourists’ to ourshores and embrace our humble but
workable and exciting dream of the‘52-Week Tourist’ for Vanuatu inthe years to come.

We are mindful of the risks,challenges, marketing and funding
requirements. But as with all new
initiatives, these challenges are to
be expected.

Imagine if we had 200-500 remoteworkers come and live in Vanuatu
per year starting 2022. They’d renthouses, spend in shops, purchasefuel, utilise our domestic air andshipping services, visit our island
sand remote but very beautiful
touristic destinations and culturalsites, etc, and breath some fresh air
into our ailing local economy.

Eventually, out of all the hard workand our combined efforts (bothwithin the Government and theprivate sector), we should be able tocome up with a ‘long-term strategy

That’s our dream. As Singapore’s
former Prime Minister Lee Kuan
Yew once challenged his officials,‘Dare to dream, and dare to dowhat you dream’. So, we’ve decided
to also dare to dream, and dare
to do what we dream. Slowly but
surely, we will get there!

VFIPA part of the Dubai Expo Committee
Despite current global travel
restrictions putting a lockdown on
many of the world’s global events,
the Dubai World Expo will happen.

is working towards investment
information that can be displayedand disseminated throughout the 6month long event.

The World Expo 2020 was
postponed after world leaders
voted on its deferral will now
be welcoming participantscommencing October 2021 until
31st of March 2022.

An important milestone that wasachieved by the Committee was
the signing of contracts for services
and products totaling VT1.5
million by the Government to eachparticipating private sector entity
which total 5 businesses.

sector participation in international
expos as this has never happened in
the past.
VFIPA’s participation will ensuresufficient information is provided
to showcase Vanuatu’s investment
climate and the possibilities of
FDI opportunities that may draw
interest from possible clients thatwill be present at the world expo.

In-country preparations by Vanuatu
began in 2019 and into 2020 until
A historic achievement in private
the COVID 19 disruptions to travel
slowed down preparations.
Nevertheless, the private sector
has been working tirelessly toensure that its products will makethe containers in time for the first
shipments in March. VFIPA is
also part of the Committee andPage 4The Vanuatu Expo Committee

Vanuatu Foreign Investment Promotion Agency : website: www.investvanuatu.vu

Funding Support to Enterprises in the Productive Sector
By Howard Aru, CEOThe Department of Industry (DoI)
has been granted some funding
to manage a number of schemesin support of the private sector,
beyond the bounds of the good old‘duty exemption’ process which hasserved the private sector pretty wellover the past 20+ years.
The current Government wants tosee more support accorded to ourenterprises as part of its policy ofboosting support to the productive
sector. If you are an enterprise in
the productive sector this is yourgolden moment to seek support.
These funding schemes will become
operational by end of March 2021
at the very latest. But you needto start talking to the DoI now tobetter understand and prepare inadvance. The facilities, in brief, areas outlined below.
Commodities Support Scheme(CSS)
The program has been designed
to support exports and their

Annual Survey by 28 February
All foreign investors approved to invest
in the country are required to complete
an Annual Survey and submit to
the Vanuatu Foreign Investment
Promotion Agency (VFIPA) by the
28th February of each year.
This obligation is provided forunder Section 33 of the new Foreign
Investment Act No. 25 of 2019 that
became effective on 15th January 2020.
The process for annual survey aims togather information from all existing
investors to ensure that a meaningful
investment is established within areasonable time frame in adherencewith the laws of the country.

associated domestic transportand logistics. This scheme will
be coordinated by the Ministry’s
Aid-for-Trade (AFT) Management
housed under the DoI.
In addition, the DoI will be
formulating a National Export
Development Program for theperiod 2021-2025. This will becompleted by April/May. The
program will set strategic andpractical directions on developing
the existing and emerging export
priorities of the primary/productive
sector.
Industry Development Fund (IDF)
The IDF is designed to support
investment proposals by enterprisesin the private sector. The funding
criteria and procedures will bemade available soon.
Industry Support Fund (ISF)
This funding scheme is alreadyavailable. It is more focused on
supporting value addition andexport operations in the private
This year, due to the fact that many ofthe existing businesses are affected andsome are no longer in operation due
to COVID-19, as part of our aftercareservice role, the call for annual
survey is tailored towards gathering
information and obtaining evidence on
difficulties that are encountered which
negatively affected the implementationand operation of the current
businesses.
Last year, there were 861 existing
investments altogether (Port Vila758 & Luganville- 103) that havecompleted and submitted an Annual
Survey. This year, from January todate, we received just over 276 Annual

Vanuatu Foreign Investment Promotion Agency : website: www.investvanuatu.vu

sector.
HACCP Accreditation
The Australian Government
through the Governance for
Growth (GfG) program has madefunding available to support related
needs.
This funding though is managed
by the Vanuatu Chamber ofCommerce and Industry (VCCI).
You can obtain further information
about this from the Ms Astrid
Boulekone, General Manager,
VCCI, PO Box 189, Tel: +678
27543, Email: generalmanager@
vcci.vu.
Should you require any further
information on the other schemes,contact:
Mr Jimmy Rantes
Director, Department of Industry
Private Mail Bag 9106
Tel: 23606
Email: jrantes@vanuatu.gov.vu

Survey applications.
Existing foreign investors areencouraged to complete and submit an
Annual Survey on the implementation
progress of their investment and report
the difficulties they encountered for
informed decision-making purposes.
The key staff to contact for any Annual
Survey enquiries and other application
related enquiries can be directed to:
Mr Gelpen Silas
Manager CID
E: gsilas@investvanuatu.vu or
Mrs Lolleth William
Certification Officer
E:lwilliam@investvanuatu.vu
Page 5

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Contact us through the following ways:
Vanuatu Foreign Investment Promotion Agency
PMB 9011
Port Vila
Vanuatu
E: mbani@investvanuatu.vu
T: 24441/24096
W: www.investvanuatu.vu

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