U.S. Office of Insular Affairs acting Assistant Secretary Nikolao I. Pula welcomed the committee’s newest member, FSM Secretary of Foreign Affairs Lorin S. Robert, who joins Evelyn Adolph as the FSM’s second JEMCO member.
Pula emphasized the importance of strengthening the U.S.-FSM partnership and continuing to promote an atmosphere to hold respectful yet frank discussions of how Compact assistance can help the FSM reach its goals in education, health and other priority areas.
“Of course, we must work within the parameters of what’s been negotiated and enacted into law, but I assure you that we will continue to do our best to help JEMCO fulfill its mandate in positive ways,” he stated.
Pula went on to mention the progress that has been made since the beginning of the amended Compact, commending the FSM for its timely submission of the budget and, for the first time, utilizing uniform project-based proposals in the three smaller grant sectors.
Robert noted that the work leading up to this year’s meeting established a strong precedent for improved future budget deliberations.
He also indicated that although infrastructure remains a challenge, the FSM is beginning to see the sector grants finally take shape with more projects in the design stage than there were a year ago.
Outcomes of the meeting included a total of 10 unanimous resolutions addressing issues ranging from sector allocations to better aligned and necessary improvements in the education sector and infrastructure maintenance fund.
