FSM Information Services
Press Release
U.S.-Pacific Summit Successfully Concludes with Greater American Partnership to the FSM & Other Pacific Island Countries
PALIKIR, Pohnpei—From September 28th to 29th, 2022, His Excellency David W. Panuelo—President of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM)—attended the U.S.-Pacific Summit in Washington, DC. Alongside the Governments of Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, Nauru, New Caledonia, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu, the FSM joined the U.S. in resolving to strengthen Pacific-U.S. partnership; committing to bolstering Pacific regionalism; committing to tackling the Climate crisis together as a priority; committing to enhancing cooperation to advance economic growth and sustainable development in the Pacific; committing to supporting each other to better prepare, and respond, to natural disasters; to protecting the Blue Pacific and enhancing the laws that govern it; to maintaining peace and security across the Blue Pacific Continent; committing to continuing cooperation in addressing COVID-19 concerns and other health-related issues; committing to expanding opportunities for all our peoples; to reaffirm commitment to comprehensively address the legacies of conflict and the promotion of nuclear nonproliferation; and committing to a way forward and future implementation of the Pacific-U.S. Partnership.
Among other areas of commitment and discussion, U.S. President Joseph R. Biden Jr. described that he will be appointing Her Excellency Frankie Reed, former U.S. Ambassador to several Pacific Island Countries, as his Special Envoy to the Pacific Islands Forum. Additionally, the U.S. President discussed a common commitment to tackling Climate Change; formal recognition of Cook Islands and Niue as sovereign States; increasing U.S. Coast Guard partnership in the Pacific; the return of U.S. Peace Corps; as well as numerous programs and projects as part of a broader whole-of-government approach by the U.S. to keep Pacific Islands in U.S. foreign policy, which are all in line with the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent, including support for Pacific Islands to maintain their current borders even when islands are submerged due to the deleterious impacts of Climate Change.
In the discussions with the U.S. President, several common themes relevant to the whole of the Pacific Islands Forum emerged, as well as several issues that are relevant to a particular subregion or a specific country.
Among the themes relevant to the whole of the Pacific Islands Forum included requests for greater U.S. private sector investment, as well as more equitable and superior access to Climate financing. The majority of formal and informal statements by attending parties covered one or both of these topics. Additionally, there was common agreement that Summits between the U.S. and the Pacific both can, and should, be held more frequently, such as on a biannual basis.
In his remarks, President Panuelo said “Our declaration is a testament of the strong font of friendship and partnership between the Pacific and the United States…. Speaking as a leader of one of the Freely Associated States, I am pleased that the U.S. prioritizes our Compact negotiations as one of the cornerstones of our cooperation, and I am very pleased of expanded commitment to new resources that reflect our development needs.”
“Thank you for acknowledging our existential security threat of Climate Change,” President Panuelo continued, “and for championing it.”
After the multiple talanoa between the Pacific Islands and the United States, including meetings with President Biden’s cabinet, as well as members of the U.S.’ private sector, the Summit concluded with a warm, lengthy, and personable discussion over dinner between President Biden and the Leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum family. In this regard, the FSM Government gives its public thanks to the Republic of Fiji for the latter’s deference to President Panuelo to provide remarks, wherein President Panuelo extended the Pacific’s appreciation to President Biden and the U.S. Government for their vision and wisdom in taking action to build back better partnerships between the Pacific and the United States.
The full text of the Declaration on U.S. Pacific Partnership can be found here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/09/29/declaration-on-u-s-pacific-partnership/
