NEW YORK (Island Times/Pacnews) — Palau is ready to buy property in New York City worth $2.23 million to serve as the island’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.
In a letter to Senate President Hokkons Baules and House Speaker Sabino Anastacio, President Surangel Whipps Jr. said negotiations have been successful and that no further funding appropriation is needed.
He said the $2.1 million will come from the 2020 Taiwan stimulus grant as well as the already appropriated sum for the operations of Palau’s U.N. Mission.
The only requirement requested is the waiver of diplomatic or sovereign immunity to allow for the purchase to occur.
The waiver removes the diplomatic or sovereign immunity in relation to the purchase of the real property, allowing the buyer, in this case Palau, to be sued if it defaults on payments.
Palau’s bicameral National Congress, the Olbiil Era Kelulau, earlier authorized President Whipps and/or his designee under Joint Resolution 11-20 to “explore and pursue the purchase of the property” to house Palau’s Permanent Mission.
In other news
At the United Nations, Palau joined 140 other countries in condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and calling for an immediate withdrawal of Russian forces.
Palau’s U.N. Ambassador Ilana Seid said while the island nation may have little in common with Ukraine, they both become independent in the early 1990s.
“And so, it hasn’t escaped us, that if the turns of fate had one of our former colonizers act with the aggression of Russia towards us, citing the justification of historical unity, it would have been our people who would be suffering the atrocities of war we are seeing in Ukraine today,” Ambassador Seid said.
While the U.N. General Assembly resolution is not binding, it resulted in a clear symbolic defeat for Russia. In the final tally, 141 countries supported the resolution, with just five voting against it and another 35 abstaining.
The other Pacific nations that supported the resolution were Australia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Samoa.
