New working group to tackle economic issues

A newly-created working group composed of members of the Legislature and members of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce aims to tackle economic and other issues the CNMI currently faces.

The new working group met with the media last Thursday to introduce themselves, just weeks after meeting with the Guam leadership to discuss how they can work together to tackle issues that they similarly face.

Rep. Edwin Propst (D-Saipan) said Thursday that the working group was created to provide CNMI stakeholders and the local business community a space to share their ideas on how to deal with some of the CNMI’s pressing needs. Some of the topics that have been discussed so far include economic recovery, land and sea transportation, interisland air service, labor issues, and more.

“This effort in helping our community started with some discussions and reaching out to the Saipan Chamber of Commerce and [Hotel Association of the Northern Mariana Islands] in which the CNMI Legislature wanted to meet to discuss our pressing needs. The main issue is our economy and that’s really what brought us together to talk about the real challenges [in the CNMI],” he said.

Propst said the group held its first meeting over a month ago and has since gone to Guam to discuss some of these issues with Guam leaders and lawmakers.

“We [have since] reached out to the Guam [Legislature] and have had a meeting. We [also] had a meeting with Guam Gov. Lou Deleon Guerrero and Lt. Gov. Josh Tenorio…to discuss several important issues,” he said.

Propst noted that during these meetings, a discussion to revive the Mariana Islands Legislatures Association arose and the working group expects members of the Guam Legislature to travel to Saipan soon to sign a formal resolution re-establishing the group.

Chamber president Joe C. Guerrero said during the press conference that the establishment of this working group gives CNMI stakeholders a place to discuss their concerns and challenges with lawmakers and to possibly come up with ideas to resolve them.

“Its a great opportunity for us to really sit down and discuss issues, no politics involved, just saying it as it is. The business community is really here to help and share any ideas we may have and to find a way to move forward from these challenges. Many of these challenges are not new. So we [want to] sit down and share [our] ideas and information. This is what this group is about,” he said.