Cohen named to represent US in Pacific organization

President George W. Bush has named Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior David B. Cohen as the U.S. representative to the Conference of the Pacific Community, a broad-based group of nations and territories in the region and some of the countries that actively deal with them.

As the U.S. representative, Cohen will attend the biannual high-level meetings of the Conference of the Pacific Community on Nov. 18 in Koror, Palau. He will cast a vote on behalf of the United States during the meeting.

“I’m honored to be asked to serve in this capacity. The Pacific islands are an area of the world whose importance is growing significantly,” said Cohen, who currently runs the Interior Department’s Office of Insular Affairs.

An OIA news release said that Cohen’s nomination was expected to be approved in the near future.

According to OIA, the Conference of the Pacific Communities is held by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, headquartered in Noumea, New Caledonia.

SPC was founded as the South Pacific Commission in 1947 by Australia, France, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States under the Canberra Agreement. The group now includes four of the founding nations—the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have withdrawn—as well as American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau and twenty other Pacific island nations and territories.

At the conference, each member may exercise one vote, although debates are usually resolved by way of consensus or general agreement. Although the region features a third of the world’s languages, SPC meetings bring together representatives using just two, English and French.

SPC aims to develop the technical, professional, scientific, research, planning and management capability of the peoples of the Pacific, to provide them information and advice directly and to enable them to make informed decisions about their future development and well-being, OIA said.

Citing information at SPC’s website, OIA said the important issues to be discussed at the 4th Conference of the Pacific Community are the appointment of the next director-general, outcome of the corporate review, the Pacific plan and other regional issues.

Lourdes T. Pangelinan, formerly on the staff of ex-Guam Gov. Joseph F. Ada, has been the SPC director general since January 2000. She is SPC’s first woman chief executive.

The conference will carry the theme: “Youth empowerment for a secure, prosperous and sustainable future.”

Cohen, who is currently on island, said in an interview yesterday that he was planning on raising other issues at the conference.

Cohen will initiate discussion on how member nations and territories can protect themselves against the avian flu epidemic. He will also raise the topic of aid dollars received by island nations and territories and how they can maximize them.

According to Cohen, island nations and territories receive billions of dollars from the U.S. government, other donor nations, and multilateral institutions. However, these aid dollars do not always result in human development due to lack of planning and accountability on the part of the governments.

Cohen’s office generally administers the federal govern-ment’s relationship with the territories of Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the CNMI.

In addition, OIA administers the financial assistance provided to the nations in “free association” with the United States—the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of Palau and the Republic of the Marshall Islands—under the Compacts of Free Association.