Amata's Pacific Notebook: PICL Day FOUR
May 10, 2007

Exclusive for Samoa News
By Aumua Amata

WASHINGTON, DC (May 9, 2007) - As the unusually cool spring weather of recent days gave way to heat and humidity more typical of summer in the U.S. capital, delegations from 20 countries and territories gathered once more in the Grand Hyatt Hotel to consider what they had heard and seen over the course of the past three days, issue instructions to the PICL secretariat to carry on until the next PICL three years from now and issue a public communiqu detailing the decisions they had made and the direction in which they want the organization to head.

As disappointed as I was that my Dad's old pal Sir Michael Somare did not come, it is election year in Papua New Guinea after all, and I can appreciate his need to stay home. In the case of the Federated States of Micronesia, presidential elections are this week and round two of French presidential elections (in which territories participate) over the weekend kept leaders of the three French territories away. That Wallis & Futuna was absent altogether most likely was attributable to the death this week of the King of Wallis at age 88 and transportation challenges no doubt account for Tokelau's empty chair. I am certain compelling domestic problems account for other delegations being led by someone other than the top leader.

President Bush has met with the island leaders once before in Honolulu, as did his father, so he is not unaware of the region's problems. Moreover, the fact that Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice declared this to be no less than the "Year of the Pacific" is admirable evidence that our voices are being heard and the list of senior state department officials, led by Dr. Rice, who addressed the group was impressive.

The leaders praised Dr. Rice today in their final communiqu and rightly praised American Samoa Delegate Faleomavaega for the arrangements he made for a successful series of discussions with key Members of Congress.

At the Monday evening Congressional reception, East-West Center President Charles Morrison said the reason it took so long for PICL to come to Washington was that until now they did not have someone like Faleomavaega in such a key position. As most people know, with the return of Democrats to power in January, Faleomavaega was chosen to chair the Asia-Pacific and global environment panel of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Many speakers at today's session expressed how they are pinning their hopes on Faleomavaega to re-engage the U.S. in the Pacific from his perch as chairman of the subcommittee. If leaders understand anything intuitively, it is power and Washington is the world's most important power center. Power includes the power of persuasion and Faleomavaega now occupies a position from which he can persuade. Leaders from countries outside the U.S. system saw first hand how the American system works, with a co-equal legislative and executive branch. As a chairman, Faleomavaega now can move bills through his committee onto the floor and to enactment to re-engage the U.S. in the region.

Speaking of power, it is ironic that the latest issue of Pacific Magazine, devoted to naming the most powerful people in the region, hit Washington mailboxes this week while the leaders were here. After the 10 most powerful profiled, the 25 people Pacific Magazine believes should be watched this year includes Vanuatu Prime Minister Ham Lini. So I took the opportunity of a break in the conference to ask the Prime Minister to autograph my copy of the magazine, which he cheerfully did.

If I might digress, I would be remiss if I did not also acknowledge the two people from American Samoa who also made Pacific Magazine's 2007 list. Although no one from our islands made the top 10 list we had two on the list of 25: Homeland Security Department Director Tuala Mike Sala and Chamber of Commerce President David Robinson. My sincere congratulations go to both men.

The leaders also discovered the power of the press here in Washington. Needless to say, PICL was crowded off page one by the visit of the Queen but maybe that was not a bad thing. One of the major goals of the East-West Center leadership was to raise the profile of the islands in Washington. But if the headlines I saw about PICL this morning in the region's press are typical of the coverage the meeting has been receiving, then perhaps lack of press coverage here was a blessing.

Although PICL has concluded, the leaders of American-affiliated islands Thursday are being hosted for lunch by U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne. After lunch I have been invited to attend the White House ceremony at which President Bush will sign a document proclaiming May as Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Thursday evening, I will attend a formal gala honoring President Bush. If all goes well, I should be able to report on all these activities for Friday's Samoa News.

I hope you have found my coverage of island week in Washington to be of interest and I would love to hear your own comments. Please write me at aumuaamata@mail.com. I look forward to hearing from you and sharing with you more observations tomorrow.