The FSM Government has been invited to attend the forthcoming sessions of the subsidiary bodies of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change scheduled to take place in Bonn, Germany, from February 25-March 6, 1997. Since the FSM has been actively involved in the UNFCCC-related meetings from the start, the Department has recommended continued participation. Messrs. Jim Stovall, the Legal Counsel to the FSM Embassy in Washington D.C., and Jim Mooteb, the Alternative Energy and Sustainable Development Planner, have been recommended to represent the FSM in the meetings.

A three-member team from the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) is slated to visit the FSM, February 25-28, 1997, to identify activities for development of a regional waste management project. The Department of Health Services is the coordinating agency for the visit.

The FSM Government has granted diplomatic clearance for a Royal New Zealand Air Force flight to enter FSM airspace on January 15, 1997, for maritime surveillance purposes.

The Department has communicated to the Forum Secretariat FSM's acceptance to host the Micronesia Small Business Workshop, March 3-7, 1997. The workshop will be conducted in collaboration with the FSM's Micronesian Entrepreneur Development Center (MEDC).

The Executive Director of the Chuuk Environmental Protection Agency, Mr. Joseph Konno, has been nominated to represent the FSM in a Municipal Solid Waste Management Workshop, sponsored by the World Health Organization, and scheduled to be held in the Kingdom of Tonga, March 17-21, 1997.

The Department has been informed of a visit to Pohnpei and Chuuk by the Israeli Ambassador to the FSM, His Excellency Shmuel Moyal, arriving on February 5, 1997. He will be accompanied by Second Secretary Assa Bass. The visit will enable the Ambassador to meet with National Government and Chuuk State officials.

The Department has received a draft contract prepared by the Government of the People's Republic of China, for a Micronesian Agriculture Project in Pohnpei. The draft contract is now under review by the FSM Government. This is the first agricultural project under PRC grant aid to the FSM.

A ninth Course at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) International Law Institute will be held in Malta from September 15, 1997 to June 30, 1998. The course is designed as a specialized and intensive postgraduate course for graduates in law, including an introduction to shipping, intensive education in maritime law, and training in the drafting of maritime legislation. Costs of course attendance will be borne by the individual or his/her nominating agency.

A training course in international law at the Hague Academy of International Law in the Netherlands is open for interested FSM citizen applicants, preferably mid-level government officials and professionals from developing countries, to acquire knowledge in international law and in the legal work of the United Nations and its affiliated agencies. Deadline for submission of applications is February 24, 1997.