APPENDIX III
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Mr. Frank C. Canahan, Director
working relationships.
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PPENDIX
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However, when there are changes in
personnel due to transfers, retirements, etc. or when a new
program is established with a federal agency not familiar with
the Commonwealth problems do arise.
One solution would be for
OTIA to act as a clearing house and to educate other federal
agencies regarding the territory involved.
One area where the OTIA deserves high marks relates to
providing technical assistance to the Commonwealth. We appre-
ciate that we often lack the necessary expertise to do certain
tasks and such assistance is truly needed. The personnel which
have been assigned to the Commonwealth have provided such
expertise and have demonstrated a willingness to impart their
expertise to local people.
In many instances, the expert has
completed his task and, by training local personnel, has made
his position obsolete.
Providing technical assistance is far
superior to providing funds and, in the long run, the federal
government obtains a better return on its investment.
We would
recommend that this type of assistance be expanded...
Provisions in our Covenant require that Special Representatives
be appointed to discuss future multi-year financial assistance
after the expiration of the seven-year period of guaranteed
annual assistance by the United States.
President Reagan has
appointed Assistant Secretary Montoya and the Commonwealth will
be represented by Lieutenant Governor Pedro A. Tenorio.
We
feel that future financial assistance is necessary to our
economic and social development and applaud the negotiations
and draftsmen of the Covenant for the foresight in providing a
method to resolve matters of such importance.
We also are of
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the opinion that Mr. Montoya is an excellent choice as he is a
very familiar with our problems as well as our aspirations.
Although our government maintains excellent relationships with
the United States Government, many of our citizens still
experience problems while traveling or residing in the United
States.
Provisions in our Covenant allow qualified persons to
elect to become a U.S. citizens or nationals upon termination
of the Trusteeship Agreement.
It was generally thought that
termination would take place in 1981.
Recent U.S. Public Laws
have given our people certain privileges granted U.S. citizens
but these people do not have sufficient evidence of such
status.
We would suggest that temporary U.S. passports be
granted to persons who would otherwise qualify for U.S..
citizenship under the Covenant.
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We take some exception to that portion of the draft which
states that the territories have not made much progress in