On Wednesday, members of the Council of Pacific Arts, meeting in American Samoa during the 10th edition of the festival, unanimously endorsed Guam’s bid to host the 2016 event.
Camacho made a brief visit to American Samoa to sign the letter on Friday before flying back to Apia, Samoa to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
He said Guam was extremely honored to be selected.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity for Guam to share with our Pacific island brothers and sisters and enhance and develop our relationships,” he said. “I know that the community will come together for this and the people of Guam will be ecstatic to host this festival.”
He said Guam will learn from the current festival in American Samoa as well as the next one in Solomon Islands.
While in American Samoa, the governor visited the festival village and said he was struck by the great diversity of cultures and, at the same time, the commonality that existed in many areas.
“To come to venues like this with the arts and everything related to them is fantastic,” he said. “It helps that it’s not just government to government but people to people. And you can’t beat the combination of culture and arts.”
Camacho also caught up with the Guam delegation attending the festival.
He said young people were well represented in the delegation, which was an advantage as they would be the advocates and supporters for the Guam event in eight years time.
“The young people are our best ambassadors here,” he said.
He believes Guam can meet the challenge of hosting the festival as it has hosted other major logistical events such as the South Pacific Games in 1999.
The head of Guam’s delegation to the 10th Festival of Pacific Arts, Sylvia Flores, said the next step will be to establish a task force to examine the best way to go about hosting the event.
She said Guam will also work closely with the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.
SPC offers technical support to countries hosting the Festival of Pacific Arts.
