How often do you travel for business to the FSM, Palau and the Marshalls? What would make your trips there more productive? If not for business, when did you last travel to the FSM, Palau or the Marshalls for pleasure? If you haven’t ever been or haven’t been in a while, how come?

“I have not yet been able to travel to the FSM, Palau or the Marshalls as I am still new to the job. The last time I went out there was for personal travel and I was a lot younger. We do plan to travel there soon, and I do see a lot of opportunity there.”

Sherman

Patrick Sherman

Vice president of operations and general manager for Guam, Triple B Forwarders

“That one’s easy. I don’t travel to those areas.”

Hagen

Scott Hagen

General manager, Pacific Solar & Photovoltaics Inc.

“I travel to Palau because BankPacific has an office there, and it’s beautiful and friendly. I don’t travel to the FSM or the Marshalls. Everything is pretty close in Palau, so getting from place to place is easy, even when the roads are backed up.

What could and I am told will make Palau more productive is 21st century communications. The internet is extremely slow so scanning and sending documents to and from Palau is difficult and very expensive.

To the rescue are a new cable being laid now and also a telecom law being implemented. As a result, we can look forward to much improved and affordable communications in Palau. This will be good not just for businesses but of course for education, government, tourism and personal use.

We expect to see our MyCloudBanking (online banking) platform explode once the line is connected.”

Philip J. Flores

President and CEO, BankPacific Ltd.

“No, it’s been a while. We recently launched our beer in Saipan so we should start heading over there more often. It’s been five years since [I have gone]. I really have no reason to go. Now that I have a reason I’ll probably start going out there in the next couple of years to Saipan — not to Micronesia, just the Marianas. My business travels are to the U.S., Philippines and now Saipan.”