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U.S. Department of State Office of the Spokesman Press Statement

Press Statement by James B. Foley, Deputy Spokesman
May 5, 1999

Appointment of Special Negotiator for
Compact of Free Association

Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright has appointed Allen P. Stayman to the position of Special Negotiator for the Compact of Free Association with the Republic of the Marshall Islands and with the Federated States of Micronesia. The Compact entered into force in 1986 and governs relations between the U.S. and these two Pacific island nations. Negotiations will begin in October 1999 regarding the financial and program assistance provisions of the Compact, which expire in 2001.

Mr. Stayman is currently Director of the Office of Insular Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, where he has worked since 1993. The Department of Interior provides coordination of Compact-related economic assistance. Previously he was the principal professional staff member on the U.S. Senate Committee for Energy and Natural Resources responsible for insular affairs. He is uniquely qualified to advance U.S. interests in this negotiation.

In this newly created position, Mr. Stayman will report to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. He will head an office staffed by members of the Interagency Group on the Freely Associated States, including officials from the Departments of State, Defense and Interior.

As President Clinton said in Guam on Nov. 23, 1998: "For years our nation has enjoyed a close, unique and mutually beneficial partnership with the Freely Associated States. The Compact of Free Association has enabled us to work together to preserve peace and to foster economic development across more than a million square miles of the Pacific. It is a relationship the United States takes very seriously."

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