The developing countries whether they be in Africa, Asia or the Pacific, are a potentially vast market for the technologies of the more developed countries._x000D_
Conducting business in the less developed countries however requires a keen understanding of their culture. A keystone of the culture of the Pacific Island Nations is kinship with the land._x000D_
Without an appreciation of the implications of the land rights debate, a business venture into these countries is likely to be delayed or even doomed to failure._x000D_
The European heritage, with its notions of private ownership of land, have frequently been a stumbling block to a proper understanding of the concepts of customary lands. According to our laws, ownership of land confers a number of definite rights: principally the right to use the land, the right to exclude others from its use, the right to transfer it and the right to receivF income from the property independent of use.