Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia

Cohen Visited Phillip

PALIKIR, Pohnpei (FSM Congress): July 1, 2003 –
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs at the
U.S. Department of Interior, Mr. David Cohen paid courtesy call to Acting
Speaker, Claude H. Phillip in his office late yesterday afternoon. After
Speaker Phillip formally welcomed Mr. Cohen to the Legislature Branch of the
National Government and thanked him for the opportunity to meet, Deputy
Assistant Secretary Cohen emphatically informed Speaker Phillip that he
himself along with other high ranking U.S. officials have been working very
hard to secure passage of the amended Compact with US Congress on Capitol
Hill. According to Mr. Cohen, House Sub-committee on Foreign Relations
already held hearings on the amended Compact in which he himself and Al
Short (US Chief Negotiator) were called to testify respectively. Two major
issues of concern raised during the hearing were (1) accountability and (2)
the impact of the FSM citizens migrating to other US jurisdictions. Additional congressional hearings are being scheduled to be held in the near
future, and according to Mr. Cohen he is very hopeful for a successful
result.

The subject of accountability was explicitly discussed by Mr. Cohen
pertaining to the amended Compact. Accountability is a jointly shared
responsibility and the Compact itself is an investment that can only be
implemented in partnership, according to Mr. Cohen. He further said that it
is beneficial to both the American public and to the people of the Federated
States of Micronesia.

Both Mr. Cohen and Speaker Phillip agreed that time is of essence and that
both parties need to work diligently to meet certain datelines in order to
move the amended Compact forward and ultimately to get its final approved.

The Assistant Deputy Secretary was accompanied by the US Ambassador to the
FSM, His Excellency, Larry Dinger and the US Federal Program Coordinator,
Victor Hobson, Jr.