Officials hope Obama will also visit CNMI, Guam in November

Guam Delegate Madeleine Bordallo invited President Barack Obama yesterday to visit Guam during his scheduled trip to Asia-Pacific in November, while some CNMI officials see another opportunity to also invite the president to the Commonwealth.

Obama twice cancelled his visit to Guam last year en route to his visits to the Asia-Pacific region, because of pressing issues in the U.S. that included healthcare reform and a huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

“The people of Guam would welcome the opportunity to host their President, and we hope your schedule can accommodate this request,” Bordallo said in her one-page Sept. 13 invitation letter to Obama.

CNMI officials said yesterday that they, too, would have liked the U.S. president to visit the CNMI.

Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, according to press secretary Angel Demapan, in fact mentioned this to the president at the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, D.C. in February.

“The Fitial administration would very much like the president to visit the CNMI,” Demapan said.

The press secretary said the governor also invited Vice President Joe Biden during one of their conversations at the White House.

“At this time, it is still unknown whether the CNMI, Guam or other additional stops will be included in the President’s travel plans,” he added.

Senate floor leader Pete Reyes (R-Saipan), who authored an adopted Senate resolution last year formally inviting the president to the CNMI, said yesterday he might again introduce another resolution now that Obama is going to visit the Asia-Pacific region.

Rep. Tony Sablan (R-Saipan) said the CNMI government should also formally invite the president to visit the islands.

“It would be an honor for the CNMI. And the president can get to know more about the CNMI,” he said.

Sablan said he was still the immigration director when former President Jimmy Carter, his family, and staff had a lay over on Saipan for jet refueling.

“We could be in the far end of the United States but for a sitting president to visit, that would be historic,” he said.

Sablan said the CNMI is only some 30 minutes away from Guam via commercial plane.

Obama will be visiting Australia in November, in connection with the 60th anniversary of the security treaty between the United States, Australia, and New Zealand that month.

The president is also expected to attend Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Honolulu, Hawaii where he’s born, and an East Asia summit in Indonesia.

Bordallo, in a statement yesterday, said the president was scheduled the visit Guam twice last year, but national issues required him to postpone both his visits to the region and remain in Washington, D.C.

“I am hopeful that the President’s schedule can accommodate a visit to Guam in order to discuss matters of importance to our island including our strategic importance and impact of the military build-up on our community,” Bordallo said.