20th MCES Gearing Up To Start In Yap COLONIA, Yap (Media Division) — The dignitaries and government representatives from the Micronesian region have arrived at the venue of the 20th Micronesian Chief Executives’ Summit (MCES), which will officially open at the Yap Small Business Development Center on Thursday, June 5, 2014 at 9:00 AM. Officials from the Yap State Government were on hand to greet and assist the delegations when they arrived at the Yap International Airport early Wednesday, June 4, 2014. H.E Manny Mori, President of the Federated States of Micronesia, is heading the FSM delegation to this year’s Summit. Those who traveled with President Mori from the FSM National Government included: Secretary of Foreign Affairs Lorin Robert; Secretary of Transportation, Communications & Infrastructure Francis Itimai; Secretary of Resources & Development Marion Henry; Mr. Robert Ruecho, FSM Consulate General of Guam; Jolden Johnnyboy, Consultant to the Department of Transportation, Communications & Infrastructure (TC&I); Mark De Orio, Acting Assistant Secretary for Communication, TC&I; Aaron Warren, Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice; Alissa Takesy, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Resources & Development, and; Marcellus Akapito, Special Assistant to the President for Public Information. Members of the delegation from the Republic of Palau are led by The Honorable Tony Bells, Vice President of the Republic, and include: Mr. Larry Goddard; Mr. Rebluud Kesolei; Mr. Keobel Sakuma; Mr. Joel Miles; Mr. Rhinehart Silas; Mr. John Ngiraked Jr.; Mr. Absalom Ngiraklang, and; Mr. Ryan Zinchefsky—all serving in different capacities at the Palau National Government. Representing the Republic of the Marshall Islands is The Honorable David Kabua, Minister of Foreign Affairs, with: Casten Nemra, Chief Secretary; Doreen deBrum, Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs, and; Albon Ishoda, Special Consultant for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Representing the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands is Madam Esther Fleming, Special Assistant to CNMI Governor Eloy S. Inos, with delegates Fran Castro and Gerald M. Zackios. For Guam, Guam Governor Eddie B. Calvo had designated Ms. Joanne M. S. Brown as his representative to the 20th MCES. Other members of her delegation include: Ms. Conchita Taitano, Guam EPA; Ms. Sabrina Cruz-Sablan, Guam EPA; Ms. Laura Kanai, Guam EPA; Mr. Roland Quitugua, Biosecurity Plan and RISC; Ms. Vangie Lujan, Micronesian Challenge, and; Mr. Peter Barcinas, Guam Workforce Development Board Member. Other additional Guam representatives are The Honorable Judith Won Pat, Speaker, Guam Legislature; Peter R. Barcinas, Member, Guam Workforce Investment Board, and; Joleen C. Santos, Agency for Human Resources Development – Guam. From the State of Pohnpei are The Honorable John Ehsa, Governor of Pohnpei State; Lucas Carlos, Director, Department of Public Safety; Mr. Nelperson Este, General Manager, Pohnpei Port Authority, and; Mr. Valerio Hallens, Pohnpei’s designated representative for the MCES. Similar to the CNMI, the State of Kosrae is also sending only one representative to this year’s MCES: Ms. Lorrie J. Asher, Attorney General of the Kosrae State Government. The Pacific Islands Development Bank President Mr. Aren Palik also arrived with the rest of the delegations to attend this summit. He is being accompanied by Mrs. Palik. Numerous other off-island officials made it as well, either as part of one of the standing committees to the 20th MCES or as witnesses. The Chuuk State delegation, as of the registration day, unfortunately has not made it on Wednesday, June 4, 2014. The Yap State Governor, The Honorable Sebastian Anefal will join the rest of the leaders during the opening of the Summit on Thursday, June 5, 2014. Coast Guard, Republic Of Palau Conduct Joint Exercise PALAU, Micronesia (Marianas Variety, June 04, 2014) — The U.S. Coast Guard and Republic of Palau participated in an exercise to jointly develop guidelines for cooperation and evaluate Palau’s use of their patrol boat in support of search and rescue May 19. The exercise served to formalize the process for communications and deployment of assets from state, local and federal levels as well as to evaluate coordination and operating procedures. The 110-foot Coast Guard Cutter Washington and representatives from Coast Guard Sector Guam were in Palau to participate with the exercise. This exercise is an annual engagement to improve cooperation and processes between the Coast Guard and Palau. The scenario was a downed small aircraft between Palau and Yap, an island in the Federated States of Micronesia. Cutter Washington and Pacific Patrol Boat Remeliik were on-scene during the exercise coordinating rescue efforts. Coast Guard ship riders aboard the Remeliik taught Palauan officials how to plot assets and conduct a standardized expanding square search. “Crews from both Washington and Palau’s Pacific Patrol Boat Remeliik, really came together during this exercise to jointly develop and evaluate a cooperative plan for conducting search and rescue in Palau’s waters,” said Lt. Nathan Mackenzie, Coast Guard Cutter Washington commanding officer. “Our ability to accomplish this daunting goal relied on the great relationship both crews developed during previous joint operations, which made it really easy for us to all share our collective search and rescue experiences, best practices, and local knowledge in a collaborative and ultimately effective manner.” Air Marshall Islands Continues Downward Spiral MAJURO, Marshall Islands (Marianas Business Journal/PIR, June 01, 2014) — In late March, one of the two Air Marshall Islands planes—a 19-seat Dornier 228—was grounded when the airline was unable to buy landing gear that needed to be replaced according to normal aviation requirements. The plane was still grounded at the end of May and was not expected to be flying until early June at the soonest. This is just the latest crisis that has undermined the government-owned and -operated national airline. Extended aircraft groundings for lack of funds to buy spare parts, unpaved airstrips on remote islands that cause damage to planes on landing and takeoff, and a precipitous decline in passengers as airline reliability has collapsed have combined to make 2014 a difficult year for the airline. While the Dornier has been grounded for more than two months waiting on landing gear to arrive, the other aircraft—a Dash-8—has been grounded twice for about a week each time during April and May. Despite on-and-off appeals from the Marshall Islands Chamber of Commerce for government action to privatize Air Marshall Islands, no serious action has been taken to reform the airline, which operates under a government-appointed board of directors. There has been little good news for the airline this year. A report on the airline issued earlier this year for the Marshall Islands Directorate of Civil Aviation commented on the plummeting passenger and cargo numbers. The domestic market appears to be decreasing and—without some kind of outer island development—will continue to decline, the report stated. Since 2009, both AMI aircraft have undergone heavy maintenance at overseas facilities [and] this impacted the airlines ability to provide adequate passenger service. This shortage of resources would have an impact on the passenger loads and would account for some of the decline in numbers. However another area is the continuing acute shortage of aircraft parts that have caused delays and grounding of the aircraft for unacceptable time periods. The result is a considerable loss of revenue and further decline in the passenger numbers due to unavailable aircraft. The report showed, for example, that while the airline carried more than 5,300 passengers between Majuro and Kwajalein in 1997, the number dropped to just 2,735 last year. Bikini and Enewetak atolls accounted for a significant portion of passenger revenue in 1997, but had not a single passenger last year. The report on Air Marshall Islands said the increasing unreliability of the airline has resulted in a loss of passenger confidence and a switch to surface transportation, which has reduced the passenger numbers even further. An Asian Development Bank report in 2003 said, The financial position of Air Marshall Islands is precarious; it has never made an operating profit and depends heavily on government subsidies. A report by the Graduate School USA issued last year said there had been little change. Air Marshall Islands has been a company in crisis for many years - continually operating at a loss, with government support only on a crisis-management basis, with weak management and government involvement in operations, the report stated. With flights repeatedly cancelled and visitors stranded, the countrys flagship scuba diving destination at Bikini Atoll shut down in 2008 after a dozen years of increasingly profitable operations. Jefferson Barton, general manager of the airline, said the replacement of landing gear equipment is required after a certain number of landing cycles or flight hours. It is among aircraft equipment that has a known replacement schedule and was due at the end of March, but the airline didnt have the $50,000 needed to purchase it in advance of the deadline. The national government approved an emergency subsidy after the deadline. But factory delays forced the airline to cancel the purchase and seek an alternate source, further delaying arrival of the parts for the Dornier. A new tentative landing gear arrival date was the first week of June. Barton pointed out that this is only one of many parts needed, and we dont have the money to buy them. Barton said the airlines woes stem in part from the poor quality of outer island runways that are killing the planes. The key for the airline is to get outer island runways improved as soon as possible, he said, adding that many of the remote airstrips are little better than dirt roads. Barton said the company needs government funding to purchase additional aircraft and spare parts for existing planes and government focus on outer islands runway improvement. Japan recently approved a grant to purchase equipment the government says will be used for outer island runway renovations, offering a ray of hope for the future of remote airstrips. Still, with government funding tight, large-scale subsidies for the national airline are a challenge, while reform continues to be on the back-burner. CNMI Bids For 2021 Pacific Mini Games SAIPAN, CNMI (Marianas Business Journal, June 01, 2014) – If all goes well, the NMI could be enjoying an influx of sports tourism income in the years to come. According to Michael White, chairman of the Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association, the association has made a bid for the 2021 Pacific Mini Games to be hosted in the NMI. White said the association estimates that the games would have an economic impact somewhere in the neighborhood of $12 million to $15 million, which is expected to come primarily from international contingents and media coverage of the Pacific region. The games will bring 1,200 to 1,500 athletes, coaches and officials to the commonwealth, as well as several hundred more fans, friends and family members, White said. Pacific-wide, media coverage will also have a positive effect on our image as an international destination. Andrew Minogue, executive director of the Pacific Games Council, addressed the Saipan Chamber of Commerce during its May 7 meeting in an effort to shore up support for the Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association in its bid to have the event hosted in the NMI. However, White is confident that the NMI will be the host of the 2021 games, as the bidding has been closed, and NMASA is the only bidder to date. All of our sports facilities are in place and ready to go. The only major improvements we will need to implement are the acquisition of sufficient bathroom facilities—toilets, showers and sinks—and bunk beds and mattresses for our games athletes villages, White said. White also said that he hopes the games will mark the first step of a journey to making sports tourism viable in the future as a boon to the NMIs economy and that he and the association will be working toward making that future a reality. We have great sports facilities here, and we have our eyes set on a number of sports events, large and small, over the next seven years, he said. We hope to show the Pacific, and the world, that the Northern Marianas are a great place to play and stay. Foreign Nations Register Participation For PIDF Meet FIJI, Oceania (MINFO/PACNEWS, June 04, 2014) — In the build-up to the 2nd Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF), various nations continue to register their attendance to the meeting. The PIDF secretariat has received confirmations that Morocco, Venezuela and Israel will join Singapore, Kazakhstan, Kuwait and Georgia to participate at the forum. Scheduled to take place at the Sheraton Fiji Resort, Denarau Island, Nadi from 18-20 June, this year, the 2nd PIDF meet will be opened by the President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The theme of this year’s summit will be, “Green Growth in the Pacific: Building Resilient Sustainable Futures and Genuine Partnerships”. The annual Summit of PIDF provides a unique, distinctive and inclusive opportunity for the leaders and representatives of the public sector, private sector and civil society of the Pacific small island developing countries and territories to dialogue and take ownership of their problems, decisions and actions to address their special development need in their pursuit for inclusive and sustainable development. This year’s Summit builds on the outcomes and the mandate of the Inaugural Summit last year to enable green growth in the Pacific and to consolidate genuine partnerships between governments, private sector and civil society in the pursuit of inclusive and sustainable development. The Summit will provide the space for representatives of the public, private and civil society to dialogue, share and learn from each other of their experiences and perspectives on green growth as pursued at the national, regional and international level. The inaugural Summit held last year attracted more than 300 Stakeholders from more than 40 countries, 14 of them from the Pacific.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Jun 2014 07:31:48 +0000
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