The US State Department is conducting a policy review to determine whether it would endorse the U.S. Pacific territories’ bids to gain membership seats in the Pacific Islands Forum.
A report in the Pacific Times of Palau says the Office of the Spokesperson for the Department of State noted that under the U.S. Constitution and longstanding practice, the federal government has full responsibility to conduct the foreign relations of all areas under U.S. jurisdiction.
The Department of State and Department of the Interior have initiated a full policy review following American Samoa’s recent submission of its petition for associate membership with the Forum.
Guam filed its membership application in 2022, but its bid was opposed by the federal government.
Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Marianas currently hold an observer status granted by the Forum in 2011 upon the Department of State’s request.
The Office of the Spokesperson said the observer designation reflected “the positive relationships and shared cultural ties between these U.S. territories and PIF members, and the common challenges and interests we share.
“The Department of State carefully considers any requests from U.S. territories to participate in international organizations, and we support participation in appropriate settings and within appropriate boundaries,” the office said in an email to the Pacific Island Times.
The Office of the Spokesperson said State and Interior officials are “in close consultation with the U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands as well as the PIF Secretariat, to make a determination on whether the U.S. federal government will support the territories’ bids to upgrade their memberships in the PIF from observers to associate members.”
Photo: ASG delegation meeting with PIF earlier this month
