N. Marianas can forge sister-city with Albania

The CNMI can explore a possible sister-city relations with Albania to pave the way for closer relations between the country and the Northern Mariana Islands, said former U.S. congressman David Funderburk Friday.

Funderburk, of North Carolina, who now works as a private consultant, is currently on island to accompany visiting Albanian ambassador to the U.S. Fatos Tarifa.

Funderburk said that a treaty that allows cultural and educational exchanges between Albania and North Carolina had been signed.

“That’s what we did and I think it’s a good idea to have an exchange between college students or teachers. It would be very easy for the Marianas to do. That would be a good idea,” said Funderburk.

Funderburk, who served as U.S. ambassador to Romania from 1981 to 1985, said that he has shared some things about the Northern Marianas to Tarifa, who is fond of history.

“He’s been very interested to come here,” he said. Funderburk himself had visited the islands in 2000.

Yesterday, the two, together with House Speaker Benigno R. Fitial, CNMI Developmental Disabilities Council director Thomas Camacho, and the Tinian delegation toured Tinian’s most historic place, the Northfield, which the United States had used to launch B-29 planes to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

On Friday, the two visitors led a wreath-laying ceremony for the fallen heroes of WWII at the American Memorial Park.

Today, Tarifa and Funderburk have free time to tour other historical sites on Saipan.

Funderburk and Tarifa share a number of things, being both Fulbright scholars. Funderburk was an exchange scholar to Romania in 1971-1972 while Tarifa was Fulbright scholar to the U.S. (North Carolina) in 1992. Both have been university professors and authors in their respective fields.

Tarifa has a doctorate in sociology from the University of North Carolina and a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Tirana, Albania. He has authored and co-authored, and edited 13 books and numerous articles on political science, social theory, philosophy, social problems, intellectual history, and international relations.

Tarifa, during his courtesy call on the 14th CNMI Legislature Friday, was presented a resolution in recognition of his visit to the CNMI, the first to be made of a government official from Europe.

Tarifa was also conferred a title of ambassador of goodwill for the CNMI by Gov. Juan N. Babauta.

In his remarks during a luncheon Friday, Babauta noted that Albania’s embassy in Washington is actually just a block away from the CNMI Washington Representative Office.

“To save on operational costs during this economic situation, we could just merge our offices,” joked Babauta.

“Why not? We could explore such a possibility,” replied the diplomat in his remarks.

Tarifa has expressed fascination with the Northern Marianas, saying it has an “intriguing” culture and “very, very interesting” history.