“It is important to understand that centralizing decision making is the key and the mindset of the community must be changed from a spirit of competition,” Ada said.
He said the “formula” for a changed mindset must be “from CNMI versus Guam, CNMI versus Military, or CNMI and Guam versus Military to a mindset of CNMI + Guam + Military = Community.”
Ada said the CNMI stands to gain a lot from the military buildup if the idea of competition is discarded and will focus instead on the islands’ strengths and advantages.
“We will not compete for direct services with Guam. Instead, we can identify what they don’t have and cannot supply and that’s where we will focus on,” he said.
“The CNMI, for instance, has potential in agriculture which Guam does not have. We have more farmers, more land and more local produce than they have so we can use this as a leverage to gain from the military build-up,” Ada said.
He added that supplying construction materials is also another area in which the CNMI can complement Guam.
“The costs of construction materials are much higher on Guam, and this is one area where the CNMI can come in,” Ada said.
