By Gemma Q. Casas
Variety News Staff

THE Fitial administration’s Covenant Section 902 talks with President Bush’s special representative continue today.
Gov. Benigno R. Fitial is holding the talks with U.S. Interior Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs David Cohen.
Fitial expressed the hope that the talks will be favorable to his administration’s position against the extension of federal minimum wage and immigration laws to the islands.
Cohen and Fitial are holding their meetings in an undisclosed location.
The last time the CNMI and the federal government held 902 talks on federalization issues was in Jan. 1999.
Then-President Bill Clinton’s special representative, Ed Cohen, wanted to discuss the phase-in of federal wage and immigration laws, but the CNMI panel insisted that the talks should be about the islands’ need for more federal grants.