NEWS RELEASE

ASSOCIATION OF PACIFIC ISLAND LEGISLATURES RESOLUTIONS ADDRESS SAMOAN INDUSTRY, SERVICES TO COFA NATION CITIZENS

Two-day session considers pressing issues for Pacific Island nations.

HONOLULU – The Association of Pacific Island Legislatures' (APIL) Board of Directors ended a two-day session in the Hawai'i State Capitol's Senate chamber after passing resolutions addressing some of the most pressing issues facing its member states. It was the Board's fiftieth meeting.

Resolution No. 50-BOD-02 extended APIL's full support to the efforts of American Samoa and its delegate to the U.S. Congress in advancing the American Samoa Protection of Industry, Resources and Employment proposal now before Congress. The proposal will provide greater stability to the fragile state of American Samoa. The resolution also recognized the "clear economic interconnectivity between island nations of the Pacific, and the successes of one island nation benefits from another as travel and trade [are] more frequent and the sharing of resources becomes common."

Resolution No. 50-BOD-04, CD1 strongly urged the United States Department of the Interior and the U.S. Congress to provide federal aid to American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, and the State of Hawai'i for the provision of essential services to migrants from the Compact of Free Association (COFA) nations.

'The obligations of the U.S government under COFA have been a matter of ongoing concern," said Hawai'i Senator J. Kalani English, who also serves as president of APIL. "The Compacts of Free Association allow for the free migration of citizens of Micronesia and the Freely Associated States throughout the United States and the Territories and Commonwealths, in recognition the contributions and sacrifices COFA citizens have made in the past. Too many people look at it as a handout, when it is actually a legitimate obligation. APIL's' concern is simply to see that these obligations are met, and that the states and territories have the resources to provide vital services."

In other resolutions, the APIL Board extended its condolences to the family of the late Honorable Liufau Te'o Tanielu Sonoma Unutoa, a Senator serving American Samoa (Res. No. 50-BOD-01) and expressed its gratitude to the Hawai'i State Legislature for the use of its facilities (Res. No. 50-BOD-03).

The next meeting of the APIL will be held in Kiribati next summer.

Established in 1981, the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures is an organization of Pacific island nations, states and territories that meets periodically to consider matters of mutual interest. It's members include twelve Pacific Island states: American Samoa; Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands; Federated States of Micronesia states of Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap; Republic of the Marshalls; Republic of Palau; State of Hawai'i; Island of Guam; Republic of Nauru; and Republic of Kiribati.

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