{"id":245432,"date":"2017-01-31T06:00:32","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T20:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=245432"},"modified":"2017-01-31T06:00:32","modified_gmt":"2017-01-30T20:00:32","slug":"rmi-gets-31-5m-compact-funds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/rmi-gets-31-5m-compact-funds\/","title":{"rendered":"RMI gets $31.5M in Compact funds"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D.C<\/strong>\u2014The U.S. Department of the Interior\u2019s Office of Insular Affairs has released to the Marshall Islands government\u2019s Ministry of Finance Compact payments totaling $31,503,897 for the period Oct. 1, 2016, to Dec. 31, 2016.\u00a0<\/p>\n

These payments include the RMI trust fund payment for fiscal year 2017, first quarter Kwajalein landowners payments, Compact sector grants, a 2016 supplemental education grant, the Kwajalein environmental impact grant, and the Enewetak food & agriculture program grants.:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe U.S. and the Marshall Islands have a unique relationship that has been mutually beneficial for our respective people,\u201d said acting assistant secretary Nik Pula. \u201cAs we in the U.S. transition to a new administration, we will look forward to continuing our work and making improvements as needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Compact grants provided by the United States to the Marshall Islands are allocated by the bilateral Joint Economic Management Finance and Accountability Committee composed of members from both the United States and the Marshall Islands governments as established under the Compact of Free Association. The JEMFAC promotes the effective use of funding under the Compact, and provides the opportunity for RMI and U.S. officials to discuss priorities as pertains to this funding and how best to achieve them.<\/p>\n

At the August 2016 annual meeting in Honolulu, the JEMFAC members:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Reaffirmed a mutual commitment to peace, prosperity, and shared democratic values.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2022 Recognized the importance of the enduring relationship between our two countries, welcomed the 30th anniversary of the Compact relationship, and highlighted areas for continued cooperation to advance shared goals.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Reaffirmed that the goal of funding provided under the Compact, as amended, is for the benefit of the people of the RMI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2022 Recognized the challenges faced by the RMI government in developing the capacity of the Finance Ministry, the need to resolve questioned costs, and proposed coordination with other donors to address these issues.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Reaffirmed the importance of sustainable and inclusive economic development through improved education standards and access to primary healthcare.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Recognized the need to continue to develop clear, simple, measurable and verifiable performance indicators in health and education.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Recognized the importance of climate change adaptation and resilience to continued economic advancement in the RMI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2022 Endorsed the RMI\u2019s continued commitment to budgetary self-reliance through voluntary contributions to the Trust Fund for the People of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2022 Welcomed a representative from the U.S. Government Accountability Office who emphasized the critical need for reliable data to verify effectiveness of funds spent, measure progress, and target areas for improvement.<\/p>\n

\u2022 Welcomed presentations from We Are Oceania Micronesian One Stop Shop in Honolulu and the Guam Micronesian Resource Center One Stop Shop on efforts to assist citizens of the Freely Associated States in Hawaii and Guam. (PR)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON, D.C\u2014The U.S. Department of the Interior\u2019s Office of Insular Affairs has released to the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[37,137,2687,1589],"class_list":["post-245432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-education-2","tag-marshall-islands","tag-rmi","tag-washington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245432","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=245432"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/245432\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=245432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=245432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=245432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}