New Caledonia
(self-governing territory of
France)
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The agreement also commits France to conduct as many as three referenda between 2013 and 2018, to decide whether New Caledonia should assume full sovereignty and independence. New Caledonia has about 25% of the world's known nickel resources. Only a small amount of the land is suitable for cultivation, and food accounts for about 20% of imports. In addition to nickel, substantial financial support from France - equal to more than 15% of GDP - and tourism are keys to the health of the economy. Substantial new investment in the nickel industry, combined with the recovery of global nickel prices, brightens the economic outlook for the next several years. Source: The World Factbook, CIA. |
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Places
Fiji |
Settled
by both Britain and France during the first half of the 19th century, the island
was made a French possession in 1853. It served as a penal colony for four
decades after 1864. Agitation for independence during the 1980s and early 1990s
ended in the 1998 Noumea Accord, which over a period of 15 to 20 years will
transfer an increasing amount of governing responsibility from France to New
Caledonia.