PALIKIR, Pohnpei—On November 5th, 2022, His Excellency David W. Panuelo—President of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM)—and the Honorable Aren B. Palik, Vice President of the FSM, received the Honorable Joseph Y. Yun, U.S. Presidential Special Envoy for Compact Negotiations, for a courtesy call. The Special Envoy had recently concluded a round of formal negotiations with the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and stopped in the FSM for a day whilst otherwise en route to the Republic of Palau for a round of formal negotiations there.
During the meeting, President Panuelo and Special Envoy Yun discussed the current status of the negotiations on the Compact of Free Association, as Amended. Although the meeting itself was not a formal negotiation between the FSM and the U.S., President Panuelo reiterated the FSM’s core positions—such as the need for additional funding in the Education, Health, and Infrastructure Sectors, and the importance of the Environment Sector in addressing the Nation’s attempts to mitigate and adapt to the existential security threat of Climate Change. In turn, Special Envoy Yun reiterated the U.S.’ core position that its intent is to ensure that the FSM ultimately walks away from the negotiations feeling happy and satisfied.
As the negotiations remain ongoing, this release is unable to decisively describe the particular details that may be of most interest to the FSM’s citizens. However, at the conclusion of the meeting with Special Envoy Yun, President Panuelo convened a discussion with the senior officials at the Office of the President wherein he shared his view that private talks between the President and the Special Envoy were particularly robust and constructive. It is the opinion of the President that the negotiations between the FSM and the U.S. are progressing positively and rapidly, and the President projected that a formal package for approval will appear sometime in the month of January 2023.
