Commonwealth of the Morthern Mariana Islanvge?=—™* 122 Office of the Governor i i na Islan Papen lands Maria ds 9 96950 Oo Gable Address £ © NOV 21 1984 2 in aeeeenn nS aeee ee a Mr. Frank C. Canahan, Director United States General Accounting Office National Security and International Affairs Division Washington, D.C. Dear Mr. 20548 Canahan: Thank you for providing us with a copy of the draft report entitled "ISSUES AFFECTING U.S. TERRITORIAL AND INSULAR POLICY". It is gratifying to us that an agency of the Federal Government is reviewing problem areas in an effort to improve relationships between the Territories and the United States. The task is enormous when one considers the political, social, cultural and economic diversity of the various flag territories, commonwealths and emerging independent entities who have chosen free association with the United States. While we have ‘much in common, our goals and aspirations may differ greatly from other Micronesia entities and our relationship with the United States may be different. For example, although we are geographically close to the Territory of Guam and share a common culture and language, Guam has been a flag territory since 1898 and has been self-governing for a far greater period of time. In contrast, because the United States never exercised sovereignty over the Northern Mariana Islands, many problems which Guam faces are not relevant to us. For example, the land takings issue and Commonwealth status are not issues which we must deal with, as the Federal Government never seized lands and we have already negotiated Commonwealth status by mutually agreeing to the Covenant. (U.S. Public Law 94-241.) Uw eae This background information and brief explanation should give you an understanding as to why our areas of concern may differ Mage greatly from other territories and insular possessions. 4, First, as a general statement, we have had excellent relationships with the Department of Interior, the Department of State, SES Wht SiS oom Congress and the multitude of federal agencies which we have dealt with since January 1978. Obviously, major areas of disagreement have arisen which will be mentioned later but, for the most part, problems have been resolved through negotiations and compromise. a Many of these problems involved the fact that Cc Senet h2 am > 59 CF] . Gov NMI Snip %, ofp ‘fae 1 I 9 Se eee " ‘ 5 Bi 2 wee ree Banana nE teense parenNOS OREO APPENDIX