Interior Assistant Secretary Making First Official Visit to U.S. Virgin Islands to Meet Governor Kenneth Mapp and His Administration

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas Esther Kia’aina will be making her first official visit to the U.S. Virgin Islands this week and will be meeting with Governor Kenneth Mapp and his Administration and other territorial leaders. Meetings are also scheduled with the Senate President; Chief Justice; President of the St. Thomas Chamber of Commerce; President of the University of the Virgin Islands; Acting Commissioner of the Department of Planning and Natural Resource & Department of Agriculture; Engineering Administrator of the Department of Public Works; Director of State Historic Preservation Office; St. John Administrator; CEO of the Juan F. Luis Hospital; and Executive Director of the Water and Power Authority.

The Department of the Interior is responsible for coordinating federal policy with respect to the territories of American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and administering and overseeing U.S. federal assistance provided to the Freely Associated States of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau under the Compacts of Free Association. The Office of Insular Affairs mission is to foster economic opportunities, promote government efficiency, and improve the quality of life for the people of the insular areas.

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