The Compacts of Free Associations for the Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau are set to expire soon and officials from Guam, the CNMI, and Hawaii are also involved in those federal talks. KUAM has more on this from our exclusive interview recently with FSM President David Panuelo.

"We are on track right now," said the president. The Compacts of Free Association for Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, and Palau expire in the next year. The re-negotiation of those terms first inked in the 1980s is now back drawing board.

"Our package was submitted, fully completed after FSM-wide consultation. We have held our first round of formal negotiations at the end of June and in the next few few weeks we are coming around to the second round. Our target is to complete the rounds of negotiations with the U.S. by September then we hope that we can sign it and submit it to the U.S. Congress and FSM Congress for final consideration," he added.

The FSM President says his last visit to D.C. in May was to meet with former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Yun, who's the Special Presidential Envoy for Compact Negotiations. Amid rising tensions in the Asia-Pacific, strategic military expansion is expected to play a vital part in these negotiations. An eye is also placed on the financial support Hawaii, Guam, and the CNMI need from the federal government to support migrants from the Freely Associated States.

"A lot of our citizens live, work, and pursue education in these areas. We contribute to the local economy and we are mostly welcomed. U.S. is an open country. So the compact negotiations are dealing with that," he added. "I know that compact impact is an issue that is always talked about by these territories and the state of Hawaii. The compact itself allows for that. There's funding I think it is capped at 30 million for the compact impact and we hope that these state and territories in their talks can work with the U.S. Congress to increase that."

Governor Lou Leon Guerrero told KUAM that her administration sent a list of issues through the Department of Interior. She explained, "It is unfortunate that also one of the ways that we can make our concerns and issues known is through the Congressman's office and he has actually been very absent from that negotiation so we find other ways that we can make our case."

"We wanted to have immigration vet the immigrants that come through here because by COFA it is very clear that they are allowed to travel for education, medical need, and also work. For us it would be so much better if the immigrants that come here...we are very welcoming...already have a job or going already to school or are here for medical so that there is already a way of them to assimilate into the community."