United States and the Republic of the Marshall Islands Hold Annual Joint Economic Management and Financial Accountability Committee Meeting

HONOLULU – Officials from the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) and the United States governments convened in Honolulu for the annual meeting of the Joint Economic Management and Financial Accountability Committee (JEMFAC) on Wednesday, August 22, 2018. The JEMFAC members jointly approved $36.2 million to fund health, education, environment, and public infrastructure sectors for fiscal year 2019 as provided for under the Compact of Free Association (Compact) for the benefit of the people of the RMI.

At the annual joint meeting, the JEMFAC members:

• Received presentations from RMI officials on efforts to: 1) strengthen the RMI Public School System; 2) support the College of the Marshall Islands; 3) improve access to primary healthcare; and 4) implement infrastructure projects;
• Reaffirmed the importance of these efforts along with budgetary self-reliance for the betterment of the people of the RMI;
• Approved funding for community projects on Ebeye within Kwajalein Atoll;
• Recognized the RMI’s progress in developing clear, simple, measurable, and verifiable performance indicators in health and education;
• Received a presentation from Graduate School USA on the Fiscal Year 2017 RMI Economic Review, an independent assessment of the RMI’s economic performance and policy environment, as well as independently verified economic statistics.

The JEMFAC allocated Fiscal Year 2019 Compact funding to support the RMI Government in the following sectors:

$10,966,710       Education
$  6,809,098       Health
$  2,697,699       Ebeye Special Needs – Education
$  1,957,635       Ebeye Special Needs – Health
$  1,573,345       Ebeye Special Needs – Capital
$  9,459,357       Public Sector Infrastructure
$     244,260       Kwajalein Environmental Impact
$     244,260       Disaster Assistance Emergency Fund
$  2,320,488       Kwajalein Development Fund

Additionally, the JEMFAC re-allocated “prior-year” unexpended Compact assistance to the following sectors:

$ 2,233,000        Ebeye Special Needs – Capital (Section 211(b)(1))
$    500,000        Kwajalein Impact fund (Section 211(b)(2))
$    250,000        Eniburr Projects
$    232,000        Kwajalein Atoll School Project Development Plans
$    691,000        Kwajalein Government Public Works
$      60,000        Ebeye Community Center Assessment
$    500,000        Pacific Islands Development Bank
$    500,000        Ebeye Causeway Improvements
$    582,372        Mid-Corridor Housing Stage 1

The JEMFAC passed the following resolutions:

• JEMFAC 2018-1 Infrastructure Projects – Mid-Corridor Housing Project and Ebeye Water Supply and Sanitation Project
• JEMFAC 2018-2 Fiscal Year 2019 Allocations

The JEMFAC serves to promote the effective use of funding under the Compact, and provides the opportunity for RMI and U.S. officials to discuss mutual priorities for Compact funding and how best to achieve them for the benefit of the people of the RMI. It is comprised of five members – three from the U.S. government and two from the RMI government: Chairman Nikolao Pula (Director, Office of Insular Affairs, Department of the Interior, U.S.); Vice Chairman John Silk (Minister of Foreign Affairs, RMI); Brenson Wase (Minister of Finance, RMI); William Gallo (Associate Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Health and Human Services, U.S.); and Nicholas Dean (Director, Office of Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Island Affairs, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, State Department, U.S.).

The JEMFAC expects to reconvene for its mid-year meeting in the Spring of 2019 to preview the RMI government’s proposed 2020 budget allocations. Under current law, sector grant funding under the Compact will expire in 2023 and be replaced by distributions from the Trust Fund for the People of the Republic of the Marshall Islands.  

The Secretary of the Interior is responsible for coordinating federal policy with respect to the territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and administering and overseeing U.S. federal assistance provided under the Compact of Free Association to the freely associated states of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau.  The Assistant Secretary, Insular and International Affairs, executes these responsibilities, on behalf of the Secretary, through the Office of Insular Affairs whose 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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