MAJURO — Trust fund administrators around the Micronesian region are being asked to join a new regional group that is being organized by Guam-based officials.
The aim is to develop education and training programs to expand the capacity of administrators in the Pacific region to prudently deal with investment of funds, said Gerald S. A. Perez, the chairman of the board of the government of Guam’s Retirement Fund in a letter to officials in the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and the Northern Marianas.
Among those being asked to join are representatives of ministries of finance, social security retirement funds, and nuclear test-affected atolls that maintain trust funds, according to Guam-based organizers.
The effort has grown out of an annual Pacific Regional Investment Conference that has been held for the past two years on Guam.
“The best education and training happens when the people who need the education and training are in charge of their learning,” said Perez in his invitation letter.
The new group is named Asia Pacific Association for Fiduciary Studies. The first organizational meeting will be held on Guam this November in conjunction with the investment conference. Mark Heath, vice president for administration and finance at the University of Guam, is organizing the initial formation meeting in November.
