WASHINGTON, DC: Representatives of the Federated States of Micronesia and the United States recently signed an extension of the Humanitarian Assistance – FSM (HAFSM) Annex to the U.S.-FSM Military Use and Operating Rights Agreement (MUORA) during a brief ceremony at the U.S. State Department on December 18, 2024.

Ambassador Jackson Soram signed for the FSM with Ambassador Karen Stewart signing for the United States. Staff from the FSM Embassy and the State Department were on hand to witness the signing of an agreement that will serve to extend the Annex through September 30, 2043.

The MUORA was signed in 1982 and entered into force with the Compact in 1986. The Annex provides the conditions under which the Government of the United States can make available certain humanitarian assistance to the Government of the FSM. The Annex being extended was first developed during the negotiations for the 2003 Amended U.S.-FSM Compact to facilitate this assistance. While the MUORA itself remains in force indefinitely, the HAFSM Annex to MUORA needed to be extended in a new agreement between the two governments to cover the full new period of economic assistance under the Compact, through the end of Fiscal Year 2043.

The FSM looks forward to bringing the extension of the duration of the HAFSM Annex into force through a future formal exchange of notes in the near future.

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