The Department is expecting two diplomat visitors to the FSM who are the Ambassador-designate from the Kingdom of Spain, His Excellency Delfin Colome, accompanied by his wife (Mrs. Elena Sanchez Colome), April 20-23, 1997; and Ambassador-designate to the FSM from Japan, His Excellency Jiro Kobayashi, accompanied by his wife (Mrs. Masako Kobayashi), April 21-23, 1997. The purpose of the visits is to present their Letters of Credence to Acting President Jacob Nena on April 21st and April 22nd respectively as non-resident Ambassadors Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary from their respective countries to the FSM. Ambassador-designate Colome is currently Spain's Ambassador to the Philippines, where he resides, and he succeeds Ambassador Hermino Morales who was the first accredited Ambassador from Spain to the FSM on October 7, 1992. Ambassador-designate Kobayashi succeeds Ambassador Yasunori Kikuchi and he is the current Ambassador of Japan to Fiji where he resides.

The new team leader of the Economic Management Policy Team (EMPAT), Dr. Richard Mark Sturton, arrived in Pohnpei on April 12, 1997 to take up his post. As the lead Economic Advisor on EMPAT to the FSM, Dr. Sturton has a wealth of experience as an economist and advisor in the Pacific, with his most recent position being with the National Reserve Bank of Tonga under an International Monetary Fund technical assistance program. Before that, Dr. Sturton was with the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center as a research associate for over five years, where he studied the relationship between macroeconomic policy and private sector development, and developed economic models to study the impacts of different macroeconomic policies, among others. He succeeds Mr. Chris Lightfoot who resigned last year. Dr. Sturton now joins Mr. Kevin O'Keefe and two local counterparts Mr. Fredy Perman and Ms. Evelyn Adolph.

The FSM Government will send a delegation to Perth, Australia, to attend the Turn-Over Ceremony for the new surveillance boat (FSS Independence) jointly funded by the FSM and the Government of Australia, scheduled for May 31, 1997. The FSM President will head the delegation, which includes the Secretary of External Affairs, the Attorney General, a National Senator, and the Chief of National Police.

The South Pacific Forum Secretariat has informed the FSM Government of the availability of legal drafting assistance from the Forum Secretariat to interested Forum Island Countries. The assistance is given on a first-come-first-serve basis due to funding limitations. The FSM Office of the Attorney General has been informed of this assistance and will coordinate accessing this offer.

The FSM Government will send a delegation to the FSM/US Economic Consultation scheduled for May 5-6, 1997 in Washington D.C.. The Department has proposed to Acting President Jacob Nena that the delegation be composed of representatives of the Department of External Affairs, Resources and Development, Finance and the Offices of the Budget, and Planning and Statistics. The President has extended an invitation to the FSM Congress to the meeting. The Economic Consultation is held to allow discussion of mutually agreed topics relating to use of compact funds' U.S. Federal services and economic performance of the FSM to date and prospects for the near future.

The Department has informed the Forum Secretariat of the composition of its delegation to the Forum Economic Ministers Meeting slated to take place on July 11, 1997 in Cairns, Australia. They are Secretary Sebastian Anefal, Department of Resources and Development, as head of the delegation; and Ambassador Alik L. Alik, FSM Ambassador to Fiji, as a member. The meeting of Economic Ministers, previously known as Finance Ministers, from the Forum Island Countries was recommended and approved during the Majuro Forum to further define a practical, regionally-focused economic reform agenda so as to cover the breadth of economic issues faced in the region, some of which are in the areas of trade, tariff and investment.

The FSM Government has nominated the Secretary Lukner Weilbacher, Department of Transportation and Communications, to represent the FSM in the Asia-Pacific Telecommunity (APT) Group Activities for 1997-1999 Study Period. The meeting will coordinate the activities of APT for the 1997-1999 Study Period.

The Seventh Meeting of the States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has been scheduled for May 19-23, 1997 in New York to which the FSM Government is invited to send a delegation. The Department has proposed representation from the FSM Permanent Mission to the United Nations, with possible staffing from the Office of the Attorney General and the Micronesian Maritime Authority.