Businesses should invest in the U.S.-backed developing econ-omies of the Pacific Ocean because they provide safe, English-speaking access to Asian markets, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne said yesterday.

Kempthorne said the U.S. territories and partner nations in the Pacific offer low-cost, politically stable opportunities for private investors.

"There is untapped economic potential, like the American West during the last century," Kempthorne told hundreds of people at the 2006 Business Opportunities in the Islands conference at the Waikiki Marriott Resort and Spa.

He encouraged companies to consider opening up shop in these business-friendly regions that want to grow their economies.

The presidents of the Marshall Islands, Palau and the Federated States of Micronesia attended the conference, as well as representatives from the U.S. territories of Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands.

Because these locations are protected by the U.S. military and have adopted American-type legal systems, businesses can safely start venture projects as well as partnerships with local governments to build hospitals, schools, roads, airports, sea ports and power plants, Kempthorne said.

"There are unlimited opportunities for U.S. companies to participate in these projects, and in doing so you can gain a business foothold in the islands to expand into other enterprises," he said.

As a result of similar Pacific conferences held in 2003 and 2004, a California company opened a nursing home in Saipan, a cruise line is starting service to Micronesia in 2007, and an Oklahoma company will provide insurance services in Guam.

After Kempthorne spoke, leaders from the Pacific region took the stage to explain why their islands hold appeal for the enterprising entrepreneur.

In Palau, the government is encouraging the growth of eco-tourism to luxury travelers, said President Tommy Remengesau. The small country already received a head start with widespread exposure from the reality TV show "Survivor: Palau," which aired in 2005.

"We have one of the world's most diverse marine habitats," he said. "It is clear that the tourism industry, particularly eco-tourism, has great potential to sustain economic development."

Other nations touted their low labor costs and business-friendly governments, some of which offer generous tax incentives to new companies.

In the Marshall Islands, President Kessai Note promoted his country's low taxes and his belief that businesses do best when the government doesn't interfere.

"You can start handing out all your business cards now," Note said. "The role of the government is to provide a good and solid economic environment. ... The most available resource of the Marshall Islands is its people."

Kempthorne pointed out that Guam's growth will speed up over the next few years as 8,000 Marines are relocated there from the southern Japanese island of Okinawa from 2010 to 2020.

"The outlook for Guam is brighter than it has been in years," said Andy Jordanou, the territory's chief financial adviser. "It is likely that the pace of the economic expansion will continue to accelerate."

Some of the territorial leaders complained they don't have much of a voice in how their islands are governed because they are only represented in Congress by nonvoting delegates.

"We don't have certain rights. ... We are treated as second-class citizens in some aspects," said Virgin Islands Senate President Lorraine Berry at a news conference.

Gov. Togiola Tulafono, who has been pushing for more frequent flights and lower airfares to American Samoa, said U.S. citizens in the territories don't receive the same quality of life.

The Pacific leaders and their delegations met to discuss such issues as tax incentives, contracting, working with the military, tech industries, tourism and agriculture. The conference continues today.

"The advantage is that the territories can control their own tax structures and rates," Tulafono said. "We have put out our welcome mat in American Samoa for business and investors."