French Polynesia 2

French Polynesia

French Polynesia 3
Tahitian Vanilla

French Polynesia has a moderately developed economy, which is dependent on imported goods, tourism, and the financial assistance of mainland France. Tourist facilities are well developed and are available on the major islands. Main agricultural productions are coconuts (copra), vegetables and fruits. French Polynesia exports noni juice, a high quality vanilla, and the famous black Tahitian pearls which accounted for 55% of exports (in value) in 2008.

French Polynesia’s seafloor contains rich deposits of nickel, cobalt, manganese, and copper that are not exploited.

Transportation:

Each island has local roadways, some paved and some not.  Smaller atolls are not large enough to support much automobile traffic.

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Faa’a International Airport

Air travel is the essential means of moving from one island to another. There are 53 airports in French Polynesia; 46 are paved. Fa’a’ā International Airport is the only international airport in French Polynesia. Each island has its own airport that serves flights to other islands. Air Tahiti is the main airline that flies around the islands.

Flag of French Polynesia:

The flag of French Polynesia is the civil and state flag of the French overseas country French Polynesia. It was adopted in 1984.

Two red horizontal bands encase a wide white band in a 1:2:1 ratio; centered on the white band is a 0.43m diameter disk with a blue and white wave pattern depicting the sea on the lower half and a gold and white ray pattern depicting the sun on the upper half; a Polynesian canoe rides on the wave pattern; the canoe has a crew of five represented by five stars that symbolize the five island groups; red and white are traditional Polynesian colors.

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Flag of French Polynesia

All vessels registered in French Polynesia have to fly the French flag, even for the small ships sailing between the islands, as there is no official French Polynesian civil or state ensign.

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