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Photo: Mark Rabago
The Nothern Marianas and the US government will initiate 902 talks - relating to issues affecting their relationship - on Saipan.
Governor Arnold Palacios and Assistant Secretary of the Interior Carmen Cantor, who was chosen by US president Joe Biden as his representative, are leading the two-day summit.
Section 902 of the Covenant provides that the government of the United States and the CNMI will designate special representatives to meet and consider in good faith such issues affecting their relationship, as may be designated by either government and to make a report and recommendations with respect thereto.
The Covenant essentially established the present-day CNMI and outlined and defined its relationship with the US, which the Covenant calls a political union, meaning the CNMI is a self-governing entity within the American political system.
Palacios said there's still a lot of sensitive issues to be worked out.
"I don't want to get ahead of myself to give respect and courtesy to the federal side," he said.
"When they do all show up, we're going to have this conversation on how to approach [the issues]."
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He said first and foremost in the agenda of the 902 talks is a matter relating to Section 702 of the Covenant signed between the CNMI and US in 1975.
"One of them is the financials and that's Section 702 of our Covenant," Palacios said.
"That itself encompasses a lot - economic development, infrastructure, financial assistance. We're going to keep that focused on that. That's the immediate.
"We don't have a lot of time for this discussion. We only have two months before we close it out and come up with an agreement. We want to work hard."
Palacios said other priorities in the 902 talks include how the federal government can help in the areas of tourism and transportation infrastructure, and access to skilled labour.
Section 702 of the Covenant provides for an initial seven-year period of financial assistance to the CNMI government.
After the expiration of that initial period, the US government has continued to provide assistance to the CNMI through a series of long-term funding agreements.
The most recent long-term funding agreement was executed in 1992. That agreement generally provided the CNMI with US$11 million per year for capital improvement projects. After being extended by the US Congress, it expired on 30 September 2003.
In tourism and transportation, the Commonwealth's economy hasn't been what it used to be before the COVID-19 pandemic as visitor arrivals have gone down.
In recent years, the business sector has urged Palacios to ask the US government to reinstate the CNMI exemption from the cap on direct flights between the US and China.
This arises out of Article 6 of the 2007 US-China Air Transport Agreement, which states that the airlines of the US may provide unlimited scheduled air services between three points in the People's Republic of China and Guam and the CNMI.
Essentially, Annex 6 gives the CNMI the opportunity to receive direct flights from China without having to go through the 2007 US-China Air Transport Agreement.
On workforce woes, the CNMI-Only Transitional Worker (CW-1) Program will end in 2029. The CW-1 Program has a cap of 13,000 workers - a cap that is reduced annually by 1000 workers.
In fiscal year 2025, the CW-1 cap shall be limited to 9,000 workers and does not authorize the hiring of construction and extraction occupations.
Currently, there are approximately 5000 CW-1 workers in the CNMI, and the CNMI may need as many 15,000 foreign workers to meet the demands of the growing economy and the development of new industries.
Palacios said the CNMI looks forward to engaging with Carmen Cantor and her team in a transparent and candid discussion about these issues, and about how they can work collaboratively toward achieving goals that would mutually benefit the CNMI and the federal government