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INTERIOR SECRETARY ANNOUNCES CONFERENCE TO SHOWCASE BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES IN THE ISLANDS

(Washington, D.C., June 7, 2004) Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton announced today that she would host a conference to showcase business opportunities in the seven island jurisdictions for which the Department has responsibility.

The Secretary’s Conference on Business Opportunities in the Islands, to be held September 23 and 24 at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, will highlight opportunities in Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia.

“The islands offer American companies excellent contracting opportunities,” Secretary Norton said in announcing the conference. “The Federal Government recently agreed to send $3.5 billion in grants to the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia alone over the next 20 years. We send hundreds of millions of dollars out to the islands every year.”

Norton noted that the money creates a great deal of contracting opportunities for several types of businesses. “We want to make sure that American firms know about these opportunities so they can win their fair share,” she emphasized.

This year’s conference follows the successful 2003 conference at which more than 500 businesspeople and others joined Secretary Norton and top officials from the U.S. territories to hear expert panels discuss opportunities in a variety of industries. The 2004 conference will be expanded to include the freely associated states (the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau) as well as the territories. “This is an excellent opportunity for business leaders to meet the top officials from the islands,” said Norton. “Last year, all of the Governors and all of the Members of Congress from the territories attended. This year, we hope that the three Presidents of the freely associated states will attend as well.”

Norton said that the conference would present a number of possible opportunities for win-win situations for the islands and the mainland. If, for example, a California-based global hotel chain expands by building resort hotels in the islands, it will create jobs in the islands and opportunities for U.S.-based contractors. The expansion of the business should also create jobs and prosperity back in California

Norton stressed that her Department’s role was to facilitate interaction and the exchange of information that might lead to business activity, and not to support specific projects. “Every company will have to do its own due diligence to determine whether it makes sense for that company to do business in the islands,” said Norton. “We are not in a position to endorse any particular project, promoter or business opportunity.”

Last year’s conference included panels on privatization, infrastructure finance, federal financing programs, tax incentives and Small Business Association procurement opportunities, as well as several panels on specific industries.

The 2003 conference drew companies from 33 states and territories, including California, New York, Florida, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, Washington, Hawai'i, South Carolina, Georgia and Puerto Rico. Among the industries represented were environmental technology, information technology, construction, education and training, real estate development, tourism, shipping, energy and professional services.