Simple directory > Regional > Kiribati

Country : Kiribati Official name: Ripaberikan Kiribati (Republic of Kiribati) (pronounced Kiribas) Head of State: President Anote Tong (Boutokaan te Koaua Party (BKP)) (elected 4 Jul 2003) Head of government: President Anote Tong Ruling party: Mwaneaban te Mauri Party (MMP) (re-elected 2003) Area: 810 square km (33 islands and atolls) Population: 99,079 (2004) Capital: Bairiki (on Tarawa) Official language: I-Kiribati, English Currency: Australian dollar (A$) = 100 cents) Exchange rate: A$1.30 per US$ (Nov 2004) GDP per capita: US$663 (2003) GDP real growth: 2.50% (2003) Inflation: 1.40% (2003) Balance of trade: -US$38.00 million (2003) Foreign debt: US$15.70 million (2003)

Historical profile

Micronesians from the South Pacific settled Kiribati between 200 and 500 AD. Kiribati (pronounced Kiribas) is made up of 33 low-lying coral atolls and is sub-divided into three main groups known as the Gilbert Islands, the Phoenix and the Line Islands.

1892 Kiribati became part of the British colony of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands and was administered by the West Pacific High Commission in Fiji.

1942 The islands were occupied by the Japanese during World War II.

1963 Transition to independence began, with the formation of legislative and executive councils under the supervision of a British governor general.

1975 Ellice Islands seceded and formed the separate entity of Tuvalu.

1979 Became the fully independent Republic of Kiribati.

1982–91 Iremia Tabai won the first three post-independence presidential elections in 1982, 1983 and 1987.

Constitutional restrictions prevented Tabai contesting the 1991 elections which were won by Teatao Teannaki.

1994 Teburoro Tito of the Mwaneaaban te Mauri Party (MMP) was elected president.

1997 China built a satellite tracking base on Kiribati's main atoll; President Tito agreed to lease it to China for 15 years.

1998 Teburoro Tito was elected to his second term.

2001 The Pacific Islands Forum, of which Kiribati is a member, completed its negotiations to bring 14 Pacific island countries into a free trade agreement (FTA), known as the Pacific Islands Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA). The government of President Teburoro Tito suffered heavy losses in the second round of parliamentary elections.

2002 Parliament passed newspaper registration laws, giving powers to a registrar to deregister and stop the publication of newspapers that face complaints.

2003 Teburoro Tito won the February presidential elections. On 28 March, President Teburoro Tito lost a no-confidence motion in which the opposition won 21 out of 40 votes. The ruling party, MMP, was re-elected in the general elections in May for all the seats in the House of Assembly, following its premature dissolution in March. On 4 July, Anote Tong (BKP) was elected president. In November, Kiribati established diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but also offered to honour the lease of the satellite tracking station to China, although the possible military use of the Chinese base has divided Kiribati since its installation. China rejected Kiribati's offer and on 29 November, severed diplomatic relations with Kiribati.

2004 In January, President Anote Tong invited visiting Taiwanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Eugene Chien, to his native Maiana, an island located east of the country's capital, Tarawa, for a festival attended by local village chiefs and tribal leaders.

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