In 1999, Tuvalu had a population of around 11,000 people. The economy of Tuvalu was heavily reliant on fishing and subsistence agriculture, with limited access to international markets. Foreign relations in 1999 were primarily focused on gaining foreign aid from other countries in order to support the country’s development and economic growth. Politically, Tuvalu was a democratic nation with a unicameral parliament which was elected by universal suffrage. The country also had a strong commitment to preserving its cultural heritage and traditional values. Despite this commitment, however, there were still several issues such as poverty and inequality that needed to be addressed in order to improve the lives of the people of Tuvalu. See ethnicityology for Tuvalu in the year of 2018.
Yearbook 1999
Tuvalu. Visit Countryaah official website to get information about the capital city of Tuvalu. Bikenibeu Paeniu was forced to resign as prime minister in April after losing a vote of confidence in parliament. The background was criticism of Paenius’s privacy and his failure to implement the government’s program. Ionatana Ioanatana, who was previously Minister of Education, Culture, Women and Health, was appointed as new Head of Government.
- Also see Abbreviationfinder.org to see the acronym of TUV which stands for Tuvalu and other definitions of this 3-letter abbreviation.
History. – Between the first and second decade of the 21st century, the impact of climate change continued to cause great concern to Tuvalu: the rise in water levels, the progressive erosion of the coasts and the saline infiltrations in the soil and in the aquifers – with consequent contamination of the drinking water aquifers and negative effects on crops – testified to the extreme vulnerability of the country with respect to this phenomenon, on which the local authorities asked for a more decisive intervention by the international community. A prolonged period of drought also forced it to declare a state of emergency for two weeks at the end of September 2011: the water was rationed and some countries helped Tuvalu by providing supplies of drinking water and water desalination units.
From a political point of view, in April 2008 the voters of Tuvalu voted in a referendum in favor of the preservation of the monarchy, with the ruler of the United Kingdom recognized as king and represented in the archipelago by a governor general. In 2010, the year in which the country became a member of the International Monetary Fund, elections were also held for the renewal of Parliament: the outgoing premier Apisai Ielemia retained his seat, but the office of prime minister was entrusted to Maatia Toafa; he was however disheartened in the following December and in his place the Parliament elected Willy Telavi. In 2012, the country was criticized for allowing some Iranian oil tankers to fly the Tuvaluan flag, thus circumventing the sanctions imposed against Ṭeherān: under pressure from the United States,
A political-institutional crisis occurred in the country in 2013: in July, the governor general Iakoba Italeli in fact decided to resort to his constitutional prerogatives and convene the Parliament, after Prime Minister Telavi had refused to do so for fear of being disheartened. no longer being able to count on the support of the majority of deputies. An institutional clash thus arose, with each of the two figures asking for the removal of the other. The dispute ended with the parliamentary vote of no confidence in Telavi in August. Enele Sopoaga assumed the post of prime minister, which he retained even after the elections of March 31, 2015. The vote, originally scheduled for the 19th, had been postponed due to the effects of cyclone Pam on the archipelago.
