Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia

'A call for action' convenes the Micronesian Legislative Conference 2011

Palikir, Pohnpei (FSM Congress): November 15, 2011 - The 2011 Micronesian Legislative Conference (MLC) is underway at the National Government central facilities in Palikir where the representatives of the Nation's five legislative bodies are gathered under the working theme, "A Call For Action."

Speaker Isaac V. Figir of the Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia emphasized the significance of the theme in his welcoming message by noting that the past MLCs have "discussed issues, established national priorities, and shared information.

"Now we must pull together all these strands and take action," urged Speaker Figir. He called attention to the limited number of issues on the agenda as a deliberate restriction so that "we have adequate time to discuss these important issues."

The agenda issues that are expected to produce concrete action from the 2011 Conference include:

  1. Compact-Impact;
  2. Tax Reform; and
  3. Human Trafficking.

Speaker Figir's statement underscored the importance of a collective decision of action, "These are weighty issues [and] I hope that we can leave this conference with a collective commitment to deal with them, because the consequences of inaction may be extremely heavy."

While the three agenda issues specifically call for action from the legislative conference, other issues and matters of information are also part of the three-day agenda, matters that include: Corruption, Conflict of Interest, Migration and Population as presented by the United Nation's Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nation Population Fund (UNFPS). Along with UN presenters, the other partner organizations sharing information with the legislative body include the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community which presented on Information and Communications Technology.

The 2011 MLC is from November 14 thru 16 and is presided over by the elected Chairman from the Yap State Legislature, Senator Jesse Raglmar-Subolmar.

The MLC was established to strengthen the rapport between the legislative branches of the five governments and at the same time provide a platform for the legislative bodies to discuss and define solutions for issues of mutual concern.

The MLC precedes the Second Special Session of Congress set to convene on November 17 through 23, 2011.