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‘ONOC associate member status within reach’
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Posted on Apr 03 2008
The CNMI moved one step closer to becoming an associate member of the Oceania National Olympic Committee after ONOC accepted the Commonwealth on provisionary status.
Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association president Michael A. White made the announcement in NMASA’s monthly meeting held yesterday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.
White said ONOC accepted CNMI’s application to become an associate member during its meeting last month in Fiji. The CNMI is now a provisionary member, meaning its membership is subject for review by the committee based on ONOC’s charter and bylaws.
White added the review on CNMI’s provisionary status is only a formality and he is confident that the CNMI would get full associate membership status just like New Caledonia.
New Caledonia, an overseas territory of France, is an ONOC associate member and remains a part of the French Republic like the territories of French Polynesia and Wallis and Futuna.
The CNMI is in direct political union under the U.S. government with federal funds administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Office of the Insular Affairs.
\The CNMI, Guam (a U.S. territory), American Samoa (an unincorporated U.S. territory), and Puerto Rico (a commonwealth associated with the U.S.) are all under U.S. jurisdiction but are IOC members. Puerto Rico became an IOC member in 1948, American Samoa in 1985, and Guam in 1986.
White added being an associate member, the CNMI is not eligible for direct grants from ONOC but can avail of indirect funding and other ONOC-sponsored programs.
Last month, the CNMI scored a major victory in its ONOC associate membership bid after the United States Olympic Committee backed them up.
White received a copy of the letter sent by USOC chief executive officer and secretary general James E. Scherr expressing support for the CNMI’s bid. The IOC, according to the letter, is also supporting CNMI’s ONOC application.
