Federated States of Micronesia

In August 2010, Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) President Emanuel "Manny" Mori traveled to Vanuatu to attend the 41st meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum. While in Vanuatu, on 4 August, Mori signed a Partnership for Development Agreement with the Australian government. Through jointly determined technical and financial assistance, the agreement will support FSM efforts to implement development strategies geared toward sustainable economic growth. In exchange for Australian assistance, "the FSM Government will pursue its development through appropriate budgets, laws, policies, strategies and programs; will optimize the use of aid to achieve this development; and will continue to work towards its Millennium Development Goals" (FSMIS Press Release, 13 Aug 2010).

The World Health Organization (WHO) became the most recent international organization to establish a presence in the Federated States when it opened a new Country Liaison Office (CLO) on 16 August 2010. The opening ceremony commenced with the unveiling of a WHO plaque at the entrance of the Department of Health and Social Affairs office building, where the liaison office is located. According to the press release from the office of the FSM president, this liaison office "is the first one ever established by the organization to cover the North Pacific region" and "the first new CLO created by the WHO in 30 years." Serving the Federated States, the Marshall Islands, and Palau, the office will assist health officials in such areas as diabetes, heart disease, infectious diseases, injury prevention, health system strengthening, and tobacco control. It will help in detecting and responding to outbreaks of such infectious diseases as multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis and dengue. In addition, it will coordinate and provide training for health professionals in the countries within its regional jurisdiction (FSMIS Press Release, 16 Aug 2010).

Also in August, FSM Vice President Alik L Alik received Ambassador Christian-Ludwig Weber-Lortsch of the Federal Republic of Germany. Weber-Lortsch has been the German resident ambassador in the Philippines since 2008 and is also diplomatically accredited to the Federated States. The ambassador returned to the Federated States to seek support for his country's ultimately successful candidacy for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. Weber-Lortsch took the opportunity to inform the vice president that his government is providing a grant of $7,000 to Micronesian Seminar (MicSem) to defray travel expenses for MicSem representatives who wish to visit selected archives and institutions in Germany in order to make copies of rare Micronesian historical photographs from the German period. The ambassador also expressed his government's desire to establish an Honorary Consul for Germany in the Federated States and also raised the possibility of locating a European Union Regional Office in the country (FSMIS Press Release, 16 Aug 2010).

A month after the German ambassador's visit, a group of French lawmakers, accompanied by the French ambassador to the Philippines, arrived "to observe, listen and learn from their encounters with people of the region." The group represented a French Senate organization called Groupe D'Amitié et D'Études des Pays du Pacifique (Group of Friendship and Study of the Countries of the Pacific), which sends annual goodwill and fact-finding missions to Pacific Island countries. According to the FSM Information Service, the team reports back to the French Senate "to discuss the needs and aspirations voiced by the different spokespeople they meet on such trips" (FSMIS Press Release, 22 Sept 2010).

In October 2010, British Ambassador Stephen Lillie arrived to present his official credentials to President Mori. Lillie is the new UK resident ambassador in the Philippines and is diplomatically accredited to the Federated States of Micronesia. The United Kingdom is a Pacific Islands Forum Dialogue Partner and has sent high-level government officials to attend Forum meetings. The ambassador welcomed the Federated States' role in raising international awareness of climate change through powerful speeches at the UN General Assembly and other venues, as well as the actions taken through the "Green Micronesia Initiative" to ameliorate climate-change impacts. President Mori informed Ambassador Lillie that during the upcoming UN Climate Change Conference in Mexico the FSM Government would "continue to seek the...