**THE OFFICE OF INSULAR AFFAIRS**

**DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR**

1849 C Street, NW

Washington, DC 20240

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| For more information contact:\    | Keith Parsky,                     |
| 202-208-4070                      |                                   |
|                                   | Insular Policy and Public Affairs |
|                                   | Specialist                        |
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**[PRESIDENT BUSH NAMES DAVID COHEN US SPECIAL
REPRESENTATIVE]{.underline}**

(Washington, D.C. September 19, 2002) President George W. Bush has named
David B. Cohen, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs, as the
official United States Special Representative to meet with the
Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands (CNMI) to discuss the
possibility of continued financial assistance from the US to the CNMI.
The President\'s letter, which was signed September 13th, also
designates Mr. Cohen as the President\'s Special Representative to
discuss general issues regarding the relationship between the US and the
CNMI. The Deputy Assistant Secretary was thankful in his remarks today.

**"The President's appointments represent a challenge of which I am
honored and privileged to undertake. These consultations, which are
required by the Covenant that established the relationship between the
US and the CNMI, are important to both sides. As the Special
Representative, I look forward to hearing the Commonwealth\'s views on a
wide range of important issues, beginning with a review of their
financial needs.\"**\
\
Cohen added that the timing of the President\'s announcement is
important since he has scheduled the first session of Covenant section
702 consultations with CNMI Lt. Governor Diego Benavente, the
Commonwealth\'s Special Representative, to take place on September 30th
in Los Angeles. In his recent letter to the Lt. Governor, Mr. Cohen said
that the upcoming meeting was mandated by the terms of the Covenant that
call for the two sides to meet at least one year prior to the expiration
of the current US-CNMI funding agreement in September, 2003. The Deputy
Assistant Secretary spoke about his hopes for the initial meeting.

"The purpose of this meeting is simply to initiate the process. The US
will primarily be in a listening mode. We will need time to review
whatever the CNMI proposes."

Since 1985, the Commonwealth has had three separate seven-year funding
agreements with the US Department of the Interior, which provided
millions of dollars in Federal assistance to the CNMI. In 1999, Congress
modified the current agreement by limiting the CNMI's guaranteed funding
to \$11 million annually until the agreement's expiration. Congress
ordered that the other insular areas be permitted to share in the \$27.7
million fund for the first time. Mr. Cohen noted that the
Congressionally mandated modifications make future funding issues far
more involved than prior Covenant section 702 consultations.

"The last funding agreement contemplated that guaranteed funding to the
CNMI under the covenant would be phased out.  We have been evolving
towards an arrangement in which all of the territories will have an
equal opportunity to access capital improvement funds, with no single
territory getting a guaranteed share. I am not sure how much flexibility
Congress will allow us on this issue."\
\
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