Officials from the Virgin Islands and American Samoa cited the CBI as a case in point. The CBI is a foreign policy initiative meant to stimulate economic growth, trade, and development in the Central American and Caribbean region. It provides tax and trade incentives and development assistance to foreign countries in this region. Virgin Islands officials believe the tax and trade provi- sions of the CBI, particularly entry of duty-free rum from other Caribbean countries local rum industry. into the United States, could harm their They also complained that although some "safeguards" were provided in the legislation, the potential impact the CBI could have on the Virgin Islands was not consid- ered until the territory raised the issue. The governor of American Samoa said he was not notified by any federal officials about a proposed provision in the CBI to allow canned tuna from foreign sources to enter the United States duty-free. local the tuna largest He said he learned of the provision from the industry. private Since American Samoa's industry in the tuna territory, canneries such are a provision could have had an adverse competitive impact on them. Although the tuna provision was eventually eliminated from the CBI, Amer-~ ican Samoan officials believe they should have been involved in formulating the legislation to ensure that their views were ade- quately considered. said Federal the officials involved in the formulation territories were adequately considered and of the that CBI their input was sought early in the process. They also pointed out that the CBI was primarily a U.S. foreign policy objective to enhance U.S. relations in the Caribbean and that the U.S. terri- tories were not initially singled out for special consideration. According to administration officials, once input was received From the territories, some changes to the CBI were made to provide some safeguards to them, including rebating excise taxes to the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, which were collected on foreign rum entering the United States. In short, federal offi- cials believe the territories were fairly treated in the formulation of the CBI. Federal officials also acknowledge the territories increas- ing interest in becoming more involved in regional and foreign activities. State Department officials said territory involve- ment in regional organizations, such as the South Pacific Commission, comprised of island nations in the Pacific, has been encouraged. However, they also said that greater territorial involvement in foreign activities must be assessed by the federal government on a case-by-case basis. Department of State officials said the flag territories States and therefore are generally policy restrictions as states. 500023 uy 27 are subject part of to the the United same foreign