Group formed to craft policies for territories

Senior Washington officials have convened leaders and delegates of island governments under US jurisdiction to put in motion President Clinton’s plans to create an interagency body that will develop policies concerning territories.

The establishment of a network of senior White House and Cabinet officials was brought up by Clinton during a visit to Guam in November to strengthen coordination between the four territories and federal agencies.

Clinton hoped the creation of such mechanism “will ensure that your voices are heard in Washington, that you are treated fairly and sensitively by federal government, and that you are consulted before policies are made that affect your lives.”

Those present at the meeting held recently at Oval Office were Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt, White House Director for Intergovernmental Affairs Mickey Ibarra, Governors Pedro P. Tenorio, Carl T. Gutierrez of Guam, Tauese Sunia of American Samoa and Charles W. Turnbull of the Virgin Islands.

It was also attended by CNMI’s representative to Washington, Juan N. Babauta, and delegates to the US Congress Eni H. Faleomavaega (D-AS), Robert A. Underwood (D-GU) and Donna Christian-Christensen (US-VI).

The Interagency Group on Insular Areas, a body similar to that of in Puerto Rico, will be comprised of US officials whose task is to develop a new high-level coordinating mechanism that will focus on concerns of the island entities often left to the periphery of agency interests.

During the meeting Ibarra explained to island leaders that Clinton is cognizant of the realities that territorial jurisdictions are treated differently than the states in terms of policies.

“He understands that citizens (of the islands) lack the representation that the citizens of the States have in formal aspects of Federal process…And since (they) lack votes, he recognizes the Administration has a special responsibility to fulfill in considering (their) situations and proposals as policies are made and implemented,” Ibarra said in a press release issued to the media.

Island leaders underscored the need to put in place an interagency body, as they noted that it was often difficult to get various federal agencies to focus on specific issues affecting a particular territory.

Others who were present at the meeting were Interior Assistant Secretary John Berry, Office of Insular Affairs Director Allen Stayman, OIA Deputy Director Danny Aranza, White House Deputy Director for Congressional Affairs Janet Murguia, Special Assistant to the President for Cabinet Affairs Ann McGuire, and co-chair of the
President’s Interagency Group on Puerto Rico Jeffrey Farrow.