Toribiong welcomed the presidents and expressed his hope that as a result of the summit, the future will be more secure, peaceful and prosperous for the entire region.
“Our countries cannot take actions in isolation; if we do, we will only be halfway effective,” said Mori in his opening remarks.
“We need to work together diligently as a group to influence and resolve the urgent challenges which we face. Together we can build economies of scale, we can share information, we can provide for our countries.
Multilateral cooperation can allow us to expand potential markets, grow our exports and create new jobs. That is what our people deserve and I hope this summit will help generate a healthy debate to tackle these challenges.”
“The size of our individual countries limits how we can be heard,” said Dr. Kieren Keke, Nauru’s foreign affairs minister, representing President Marcus Stephen.
“Subregional groupings raises the profile of our individual voices; there is much to be gained from cooperating on a sub-regional basis,” he said.
Toribiong concurred, and said “that even though we represent small island developing states in Micronesia, we represent a region which is geographically larger than the continental U.S., and working together we have a much better chance of success.”
Specifically, the presidents agreed that each of their countries would mobilize resources and take action to support the Pacific Island Health Officers Association’s resolution declaring a regional state of emergency that was adopted by the participants during the 13th Micronesian Chief Executives Summit in late June.
The presidents reaffirmed both the actions taken and the recommendations made by the Trade Ministers at the 3rd Micronesian Trade Committee meeting held in late June 2010 on Saipan, including the establishment of the MTC permanent Secretariat in Pohnpei, FSM.
They also backed the MTC’s decision to create a Trade and Investment Office under the MTC Secretariat to assist the Freely Associated States to promote and market their products and services. In conjunction with this, the presidents directed the MTC to further discuss Compact Trade issues with the U.S.
Regarding fisheries, the presidents acknowledged the establishment of the Parties to the Nauru Agreement headquarters in Majuro, Marshall Islands, and noted numerous PNA initiatives, which they are eager to see implemented in the coming year.
Closing off additional high seas areas in the region, mandatory employment requirements by PNA nationals on fishing vessels operating in PNA waters, PNA observer programs, refueling and unloading catches in PNA ports and joint marketing, are just some of the key planned initiatives.
