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President Mori receives Ambassador Small

Palikir, Pohnpei (FSM Information Services): February 1, 2013 - On January 29, President Manny Mori accepted credentials from the new Ambassador of Canada to the FSM.

Canadian Ambassador Michael Small arrived Pohnpei on January 28 and presented his credentials the morning of the 29^th at the President's Conference Room in Palikir.

At the ceremony, President Mori welcomed Ambassador Small and conveyed his appreciation for Canada's support on environment and climate change issues at other high level meetings. He also spoke of the FSM's priorities in the sectors of fisheries, agriculture, tourism and energy for which the FSM has been soliciting strong support from its development partners to accelerate economic growth and sustainability. The President praised Canada's ability in maintaining access to its remote areas, its fisheries ventures in parts like Vancouver, as well as its medicine production industry that has attracted other countries.

Ambassador Small thanked the President for receiving him warmly and spoke in appreciation of the cooperative and friendly FSM-Canada relations since the establishment of friendship on March 3, 1998. He said that Canada and FSM are both Pacific countries with common interests in spite of the relative distance compared to other partners. He expressed interest in learning that a significant number of Micronesians reside at parts of the United States that share borders with Canada. The Ambassador also pointed out that Canada is a Member of the Post Forum Dialogue (PFD) at the Pacific Island Forum since its beginning. His father had attended the forum as a member of Canada's delegation at the PFD at one time in the early 80's.

The Ambassador is scheduled to leave Pohnpei on February 2. He had lined up several calls and visits over the next few days with most of the resident Ambassadors, departments at the National Government, The National Oceanic Resources Management Authority, the Pohnpei State Office of Fisheries and Aquaculture, as well as NGO's such as the Nature Conservancy, the Micronesia Conservation Trust, Micronesian Red Cross Society, the Island Food Community of Pohnpei and others.

The presentation of credentials was attended by Secretary Lorin S. Robert, Deputy Secretary Samson Pretrick, Chief of Staff Churchill Edward and a number of staff from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Ambassador Small is cross-accredited out of Canberra, Australia, with a number of Pacific Island Countries including the Marshall Islands, Palau, Nauru, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea. The visit was his first to the FSM.