Speaker Isaac V. Figir of the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia emphasized the significance of the theme in his welcoming message by noting that the past MLCs have “discussed issues, established national priorities, and shared information.
“Now we must pull together all these strands and take action,” urged Figir. He called attention to the limited number of issues on the agenda as a deliberate restriction so that “we have adequate time to discuss these important issues.”
The agenda issues that were expected to produce concrete action from the 2011 Conference include:
1. Compact-Impact;
2. Tax Reform; and
3. Human Trafficking.
Figir’s statement underscored the importance of a collective decision of action, “These are weighty issues [and] I hope that we can leave this conference with a collective commitment to deal with them, because the consequences of inaction may be extremely heavy.”
While the three agenda issues specifically called for action from the legislative conference, other issues and matters of information were also part of the three-day agenda, matters that include: corruption, conflict of interest, migration and population as presented by the United Nations’ Development Program and the United Nation Population Fund.
Along with U.N. presenters, the other partner organizations sharing information with the legislative body included the International Organization for Migration and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community which presented on information and communications technology.
The 2011 MLC was presided over by the elected chairman from the Yap State Legislature, Senator Jesse Raglmar-Subolmar.
The MLC was established to strengthen the rapport between the legislative branches of the five governments and at the same time provide a platform for the legislative bodies to discuss and define solutions for issues of mutual concern.
The MLC preceded the second special session of the FSM Congress set to convene from Nov. 17 to 23, 2011.
