Government Briefs
Government Briefs
CNMI
Roll Call, an independent newspaper in Washington D.C. that covers activities and actions of the U.S. Congress, came out recently in an editorial endorsing the Northern Marianas desire to have a Delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives. Delegates can introduce bills and vote in committees but cannot cast their votes on the floor of the House. American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and Puerto Rico all have Delegates who are elected to serve two-year terms. The CNMI elects its own Resident Representative to the United States for four-year terms who serves in Washington D.C. on a full-time basis, but does not have Delegate privileges.
—FR
- ADVERTISEMENT -
The Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, turned over $11 million to the CNMI government for capital improvement projects on Saipan, Tinian and Rota. The CNMI government will have to match $5.42 million out of that amount from local funds for some projects, while the rest of the projects are fully funded with federal money. Besides the $11 million in CIP money, the Insular Affairs Office also provided $335,000 to fund an imaging document form management system for the Labor and Immigration Division to keep track of incoming and outgoing visitors and non-resident workers in the CNMI.
—FR
Palau
On Nov. 1, President Tommy Remengesau, Jr. officially launched his signature drive for a vote on whether to permit dual citizenship for Palauans in the United States. Remengesau says Congress failed to bring the issue to a vote so he will seek the 25 percent of registered voters needed for a referendum. Two other questions he has pushed for the last two years are reducing Congress from two houses to one and combining the president and vice president on one election ticket. But a fourth question has now been added after recent calls to his office: Term limits for Congress.
—SR
Papua New Guinea
Both the Malaysian and Papua New Guinea prime ministers are making no secret about their dissatisfaction over Australia and its role in the region. Malaysia, a country that does not have an aid program, is keen to become a key player in trade with Papua New Guinea. On the political front, the new Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Abdullah Ahmad has offered to work with Papua New Guinea to develop PNG’s oil, gas, tourism and agriculture and the oil palm and rubber industries. However, Ahmad indicated that Malaysia was not leaning toward expanding an aid program such as the Australian one of $350 million per year. Following Ahmad’s 36-hour state visit, PNG's Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare described him as the spokesman for the underdogs of the world, a critical comment on PNG’s former colonizer and largest trading partner, Australia.
—JR
Chief Justice Sir Mari Kapi has ordered a rewording on the court proceedings relating to the recent election of the Governor General. Sir Mari made the ruling so as not to implicate the current candidate Sir Albert Kipalan. Sir Albert Kipalan was elected by Parliament last month to relinquish the reigns from Sir Silas Atopare, who has served his term. However, a recent interjection by the government watchdog, the Ombudsman Commission of PNG, saw the matter arrive in Court.
—JR
Region
The Asian Development Bank has accepted about US$2.5 million from Australia to clear arrears of the government of the Solomon Islands. Both ADB and World Bank personnel have met with the Solomons government to arrange for resumed operations in the country. Meanwhile, the ADB is also increasing its profile in Vanuatu, ranked as the third poorest country in the region. Its real gross domestic product fell in both 2001 and 2002 and the ADB says that 40 percent of the Vanuatu population meet their criteria for living below the poverty line.
—SW
FSM
The Citrus Canker Task Force now has the knowledge it needs to take action against a disease that has been slowly but surely wiping out the lime stock on Kosrae. Prepared to make citrus a more prominent export crop over the last decade, the island was hit with a disease commonly referred to as "citrus canker". This canker, along with a worm known as the Asian Leaf Miner, was confined to the Southeast Asia–China region until about 1992.
—OW
Guam
The government of Guam has signed a consent decree to close the infamous, and malodorous Ordot dump. The governor’s office would not release details of the agreement until the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had signed off on the judgment. The EPA and GovGuam have been negotiating for the last year on the dump issue. GovGuam could have faced fines of up to $25,000 per day, going back to 1986 if the agreement were not drawn up and agreed to.
—PDN
