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There are a few local publications being produced in Tonga. For the most part Tongan is spoken rather than written. Published texts in Tongan language are found mainly in religious texts, the newspapers and primary school textbooks. English published texts are marketed mainly to the secondary and higher education sub-sectors and many are imported. The main private sector publishers of textbooks used in Tongan schools, many of them based in New Zealand, include independent names such as ABA Books and ESA publications and the multinational Pearson (or Longman as it is sometimes branded). Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited also operate in Tonga. The few local companies there include government-owned Tonga Print Ltd; Lali Communications, Vava’u Press and the Tonga Chronicle. Matangi is Tonga’s only magazine style publication and it is published by Vava’u Press. The state-paper Tonga Chronicle was established in 1964 and publishes in both English and Tongan. The paper is committed to maintaining a low price and has joined services with Tonga Online to provide the internet community with excerpts from the newspaper (2011).
Tonga is not listed on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2012–13, however nearby country New Zealand is ranked 3 out of 144 countries with a score of 6.1 out of 7.0 for intellectual property protection.
Tonga is one of the 12 countries involved in the University of the South Pacific, which has a campus on the island. The University of the Nations is a Christian-based university run by Youth With A Mission and has a campus on the islands of Tonga. The Friendly Islands Bookshop is one of the main suppliers on the island and is the largest supplier of stationery and books in the country. The country has the highest literacy rate in the Pacific with more than 98% of the population literate. There is a good primary and secondary education system, thus there is an established need for educational materials. There are no international book fairs held in Tonga.
The printing sector is state-owned in Tonga and was corporatised in 2005. Tonga Print Ltd. is one of the main printers in the country and provides commercial and professional printing. Touch of Tonga also offers graphic design and print services in the country, as well as other countries in the South Pacific.