with a large subsistence sector. Sugar exports and a growing tourist
industry - with 300,000 to 400,000 tourists annually - are the major
sources of foreign exchange. Sugar processing makes up one-third of
industrial activity. Long-term problems include low investment,
uncertain land ownership rights, and the government's ability to
manage its budget. Yet short-run economic prospects are good,
provided tensions do not again erupt between indigenous Fijians and
Indo-Fijians.

Finland
Finland has a highly industrialized, largely free-market
economy, with per capita output roughly that of the UK, France,
Germany, and Italy. Its key economic sector is manufacturing -
principally the wood, metals, engineering, telecommunications, and
electronics industries. Trade is important, with exports equaling
one-third of GDP. Except for timber and several minerals, Finland
depends on imports of raw materials, energy, and some components for
manufactured goods. Because of the climate, agricultural development
is limited to maintaining self-sufficiency in basic products.
Forestry, an important export earner, provides a secondary
occupation for the rural population. Rapidly increasing integration
with Western Europe - Finland was one of the 12 countries joining
the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) - will dominate the
economic picture over the next several years. Growth in 2003 was
held back by the global slowdown but will pick up in 2004 provided
the world economy suffers no further blows.

France
France is in the midst of transition, from a well-to-do
modern economy that has featured extensive government ownership and
intervention to one that relies more on market mechanisms. The
Socialist-led government partially or fully privatized many large
companies, banks, and insurers, but the government retains
controlling stakes in several leading firms, including Air France,
France Telecom, Renault, and Thales, and is dominant in some
sectors, particularly power, public transport, and defense
industries. The telecommunications sector is gradually being opened
to competition. France's leaders remain committed to a capitalism in
which they maintain social equity by means of laws, tax policies,
and social spending that reduce income disparity and the impact of
free markets on public health and welfare. The current government
has lowered income taxes and intro