Babauta expressed hope that the funding will help address the “very bad picture” depicted by the CNMI’s gross domestic product report presented by visiting federal experts on Wednesday.
The four industries are agriculture, hotel, tourism and skills development training. These were among the recommendations made during last year’s Forum on Economic and Labor Development, or FELD, sponsored by Interior.
After the forum, Babauta said his office discussed these industries with Gov. Benigno R. Fitial and Inos.
“So this time we are prepared to give $1 million to the CNMI government which is going to work closely with non-profit organizations within those key industries that we have identified in our FELD report,” he said.
Inos thanked Babauta and said the grant is very timely, noting that the GDP report “really painted a very bad picture of the economy.”
According to Inos, the administration will hire an economist who will help the government put together a development plan for the four industries.
“It is going to be the first step that we are going to take to bring things around,” he said.
Babauta told reporters it is his office’s commitment to set the priorities for insular area funding.
Agriculture, he added, is always a promising industry. There is a large potential in it and it keeps all jobs and money in the community, he said.
