OIA Press Releases (2020 to Present)

Interior Funds Annual Economic Reviews and Statistical Updates for Micronesia, Marshall Islands, and Palau

09/14/2018

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Insular Affairs supports annual economic and statistical updates in the three freely associated states (FAS) of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and the Republic of Palau through the Economic Monitoring and Analysis Program (EconMAP) of Graduate School USA. In August 2018, the EconMAP team published its Fiscal Year 2017 economic briefs for each of the three countries showing that the FSM economy grew by 3.2 percent in FY 2017, while the RMI economy grew by 3.6 percent. Palau, which has experienced a recent reduction in tourism from 147,000 visitors to 122,000 visitors, experienced an overall economic decline of 4.7 percent. 

Read More

Interior Secretary Zinke Concludes Trip to the Pacific Islands With Visits to the U.S. Territories and Hawaii

09/11/2018

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has wrapped up his trip to the Pacific Islands where he began in Nauru as head of the U.S. delegation to the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) and concluded with stops in Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI), American Samoa, and the State of Hawaii before returning back to Washington. While in American Samoa, the traditional leaders bestowed upon him the chiefly title of Fofoga o Samoa, which translates as Voice for Samoa. 

Read More

Interior Announces $333,572 to Provide Health Care and Public Services for Marshall Islanders in the RMI and in the U.S.

09/06/2018

WASHINGTON – Doug Domenech, U.S. Department of the Interior Assistant Secretary, Insular and International Affairs, this week announced $333,572 in fiscal year 2018 technical assistance program grants to bolster the health care program for populations from the four nuclear-affected atolls in the Marshall Islands and to support the Marshallese populations in Arkansas.

Read More

Secretary Zinke Will Lead U.S. Delegation to the Pacific Islands Forum in Nauru

08/30/2018

WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke will lead a high-level U.S. government delegation—comprised of senior officials from the White House, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Department of the Interior, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the U.S. Agency for International Development—to the 30th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) Leaders Session with Forum Dialogue Partners on September 4, 2018 in Nauru.

Read More