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President Manny Mori commends Pohnpei State for joining the FSM Petroleum Corporation and the new national fuel supply arrangement

Palikir, POHNPEI (FSM Information Service): March 24, 2008 - President Manny Mori has congratulated and thanked Pohnpei State Government for its formal agreement to join the FSM Petroleum Corporation and the new national fuel supply arrangement.

President Mori said the adoption of an enabling bill by the Pohnpei Legislature on Friday, March 14, 2008, and its signing into law by Governor John Ehsa on the same day, showed the clear resolve of Pohnpei State to support national solutions that provide optimal benefits to the nation as a whole.

President Manny Mori said the formal activation of the FSM Petroleum Corporation national fuel supply plan marks a significant transition in the economic landscape of the Federated States of Micronesia. "Fuel is the life-blood of every economy and in FSM it is even more important because of the vast internal and external distances that our people, trade and government operations must cover," President Manny Mori said.

President Mori noted that at least six other Pacific Island countries have established similar government owned fuel supply corporations in recent years because of heightened concern over fuel security and prices and the apparent reduced interest of the major global oil companies to service the relatively small Island markets.

"We are definitely leaders in the Pacific, and are the first to experience the challenges of implementing a multi-state procurement agreement. The benefits are large and the message is clear - our small island markets must look at innovative ways of leveraging our purchasing power and creating market scale if we want to compete in the international arena," President Mori said.

President Mori said he is aware that this major change in a key part of the economy would cause concern on the part of some people in FSM. However, he is confident that the structure of the PetroCorp and the proposed transparency of national and state fuels supply and pricing arrangements would make any uneconomic, unfair and inappropriate policies and practices very unlikely.

"I want to assure the citizens of the FSM that I will be paying close attention to PetroCorp and will do whatever is required and possible by the national government to facilitate its smooth establishment and to ensure that it works successfully for the benefit of the nation", the President said.