APIL passes five resolutions

HAGǺTÑA, Guam—The Association of Pacific Island Legislatures passed several resolutions during their 54th board of directors’ meeting at the Guam Legislature from Dec. 4 to Dec. 6.

“I urged my fellow regional legislators to bring the passion and energy we shared at the APIL meeting back to their island governments, and called on them to follow through with the resolutions we have passed,” said Speaker Judith T. Won Pat, Ed.D., who is the current APIL president. “I also encouraged them to continue efforts to establish a regional health care plan, to explore a Micronesian cruise liner industry, and to implement a regional free trade agreement.”

The following resolutions were passed during last week’s APIL board of directors’ meeting:

1. Resolution No. 54-BD-03, CD1

“Requesting the Department of Defense of the U.S. government and other officials within the U.S. government to provide the ways and means to assign surplus and surveyed military equipment to the island governments of the Pacific and further requesting the Department of Defense to implement specially tailored procedures for disposing of surplus equipment by the U.S. military forces in order to expedite the transfer and to provide for the equitable distribution of the equipment among the governments of island nations and their political subdivisions.”

2. Resolution No. 54-BOD-04

“Thanking the Government of Guam and its affiliates for their efforts in improving telecommunication technology throughout the Blue Continent.”

3. Resolution No. 54-BOD-05, CD1

“Extending the deepest compassion and concern of the board of directors of the Association of Pacific Island Legislature to the people of the Republic of Palau who have suffered so severely from the devastating effects of Super Typhoon Haiyan.”

4. Resolution No. 54-BD-06

“Expressing the deepest concern for the people of the State of Yap in this time of peril to their personal health due to the outbreak of the mosquito borne-disease ‘Chikungunya fever,’ and extending the hopes and prayers of the board of directors of the Association of Pacific Island Legislatures for the swift and complete eradication of this serious ailment that is inflicting the State of Yap.”

5. Resolution No. 54-BOD-07

“Relative to promoting affordable alternative regional transportation between Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands by means of a ferry service or similar vessels.”

The 12 Pacific Island governments represented in APIL are American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, Yap, Republic of the Marshall Islands Palau, Hawaii, Guam, Nauru, and Kiribati.[I] (APIL)[/I]