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…says unity needed on visa waivers
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Posted on Dec 21 2008
Rep. Diego T. Benavente called on the entire community Friday to join government and business leaders in stepping up the campaign to convince federal authorities to allow for the CNMI’s continued access to the emerging Chinese and Russian visitor markets.
In an interview with Saipan Tribune, Benavente said the Senate and House Task Force on Federalization is now looking at working with Gov. Benigno Fitial and the Bush administration with respect to the visa waiver issue.
“We want to come together, unite on this issue with the government leaders as well as the business community, the entire community to step up our effort and show that we are united in this concern and hopefully convince the federal government to grant us that special visa waiver,” said Benavente.
The lawmaker, who is chairman of the House Committee on Federal and Foreign Relations, said the issue about special visa waivers for Russia and China came up during last week’s meeting of the Legislature’s task force on federalization.
At the end of the meeting, it was agreed that there should be strong position or strong efforts to come out of the Commonwealth, he said.
“We’re talking about stepping up our campaign in our efforts to convince Homeland Security and the federal government that the Russian and Chinese markets are very, very critical tourist markets for us,” Benavente said.
Given that the CNMI doesn’t have a garment industry anymore as a source of revenue, the tourism industry is the only remaining source of revenue, he said.
“We also have a situation with the Tinian Dynasty and how that is so dependent on the China market and what would happen to the Dynasty. If in case of closure or something like that, how would that affect the community of Tinian? And of course the importance of the Russian market,” Benavente said.
According to a semiannual regulatory plan issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, visitors from China and Russia “cannot, at this time, seek admission under the Guam-CNMI Visa Waiver Program due to security concerns.”
The CNMI’s tourism industry reportedly has invested $35 million to market itself in China.
