=2— interpretation, which considered that the plebiscite results fell short of the Palauan constitutional requirement for a seventy-five percent majority approval of certain defense-related provisions of the Compact, has prevented that government from completing ‘its constitutional approval process on the basis of those results. The Compact cannot therefore be applied to Palau unless this constitutional issue is resolved. The passage by Congress of the Joint Resolution approving the Compact of Free Association will constitute a landmark step in the process leading to the termination of the Trusteeship Agreement with the United Nations Security Council which the United States entered into by Congressional joint resolution on July 18, 1947. Another political jurisdiction of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, the Northern Mariana Islands, will become a commonwealth of the United States pursuant to the terms of Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Covenant, P.L. 94-241, 90 Stat. 263, upon termination of the Trusteeship Agreement. The Compact of Free Association for which I am seeking approval was signed for the United States by my personal representative, Ambassador Fred M. Zeder II, on August 26, 1982 with the Republic of Palau, on October 1, 1982 with the Federated States of Micronesia and on June 25, 1983 with the Republic of the Marshall Islands. It is the result of more than thirteen years of continuous and comprehensive negotiation between the United States and broadly representative groups of elected delegates from each