Palacios: It’s time to move on

‘We invited all of you here to focus on how we can resolve and move forward and face the challenges and make the Commonwealth a better place to be.’

Gov. Arnold I. Palacios said yesterday it was easy for him and Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang to lament the situation of the CNMI when they first took office, but after one year of stabilizing the fiscal situation of the government and its public services, now is the time to move on.

In his opening remarks during the Economic Development Summit at Saipan World Resort’s Taga Hall, Palacios emphasized that he and Apatang did not invite the conference participants to dwell on the economic problems of the CNMI or to belabor and lay blame on past mistakes and administrations.

“Instead, we invited all of you here to focus on how we can resolve and move forward and face the challenges and make the Commonwealth a better place to be,” he said.

In other words, he said, they invited the participants to help turn economic diversity into an advantage and opportunity.

“We may not always have the same thoughts [and] perspectives on how to approach and how to solve some of the problems we face, but we will listen,” said Palacios.

Organized by the Office of the Governor, the summit, “Chartering Our Future,” was attended by policymakers, lawmakers, government agency heads, private sector leaders, nonprofit representatives, and community stakeholders.

Apatang said the summit is the setting for all participants to look at yesteryears to map out the Commonwealth’s future economic development—its growth beyond today.

Apatang said Palacios emphasized the word “team” in his remarks.

“When we work as a team, with shared visions, wants, plans, goals, etc., as our single agenda, we will come out, I have no doubt, winners,” he said.

Apatang said the Commonwealth has all it needs to build its own small island economy and remain self-sustaining while building its strength to grow financially and economically.

Palacios said in his remarks that the CNMI is confronting one of its toughest economic challenges caused by many factors, including the continuing recovery from two super typhoons, the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the questionable use of millions of federal dollars originally intended to provide economic stability.

In trying times like these, Palacios said, it’s easy to succumb to doubt, and worse, to cling to the same failed economic policies that include, among others, the CNMI’s overreliance on one sector of the economy.

Palacios said it is during these moments that the CNMI’s resilience, innovation, and island ingenuity shine the brightest.

‘When we work as a team, with shared visions, wants, plans, goals, etc., as our single agenda, we will come out, I have no doubt, winners.’

The governor underscored the need to put collective differences aside and work together as a team. He said economic recovery cannot be achieved by any one individual, by any one of the branches of government, by the private sector alone, or by a singular department or agency working in silos.

“We must work together to provide a clear, realistic, and measurable path to economic growth through implementation of sustainable, long-term strategies,” he said.

Palacios said the summit will also focus on the critical infrastructure projects necessary not only to attract but also sustain investor interest and engagement.

“Your perspective will contribute significantly to understanding the infrastructural backbone required to support and accelerate our collective economic ambitions,” he said.

According to Celeste Boccieri-Werner, chief of strategic development/project director of Matrix, which is the facilitator of the summit, one of the objectives is to create a shared understanding of the current state of the CNMI’s opportunities and challenges facing the region.

Other objectives are to develop a shared understanding of the CNMI’s future economic development opportunities that will guide the region’s development, identify an integrated list of specific projects to be completed to achieve economic development, and to identify a set of actions for economic development, Boccieri-Werner said.