US plans second summit with Pacific island leaders in September
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US official Joseph Yun stressed the importance of the US Congress approving new funding for three Pacific Island countries.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - US President Joe Biden will host a second summit with leaders of Pacific island nations in September, Mr Joseph Yun, the US official responsible for negotiations with three key Pacific island states, said on Thursday.
US officials have said the summit is expected to take place around the time of the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York in September.
Mr Biden’s national security adviser, Mr Jake Sullivan, said in May that the President would arrange another summit of Pacific island leaders this year after the disappointment caused by his cancellation of a visit to Papua New Guinea
Mr Biden hosted the first summit with the leaders in 2022.
“He has committed (to) holding a second summit in September this year,” Mr Yun said at an event hosted by the Heritage Foundation think-tank.
Mr Yun stressed the importance of the US Congress approving new funding for the three Pacific Island countries he has been negotiating with by the end of the fiscal year on Sept 30, given China’s strategic ambitions in the region.
Palau, Micronesia and the Marshall Islands all have what are known as Compacts of Free Association (Cofas) with the United States, under which the US has responsibility for their defence and provides economic assistance, while gaining exclusive access to huge strategic swathes of the Pacific.
In May, Mr Yun said he had finalised terms with Micronesia and Palau to renew their Cofas and hoped to do so with the Marshall Islands in coming weeks.
However, the foreign minister of the Marshall Islands called last week for more US money to deal with the legacy of massive US nuclear testing to enable the renewal of its agreement, the economic terms of which expire on Sept 30.
“I’m very hopeful that we can reach an agreement in a reasonably short time – weeks,” Mr Yun said.
Under memorandums of understanding (MOUs) agreed on in 2023, the US will commit a total of US$7.1 billion (S$9.4 billion) over 20 years to the three nations, subject to congressional approval.
Mr Yun has proposed that Congress approve the total amount agreed in the MOUs by Sept 30, even without a final agreement with the Marshall Islands, warning that it would be damaging to US credibility and a big blow for the islands if that did not happen. REUTERS
