Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper hosts an honor cordon for President of the Federated States of Micronesia David Panuelo at the Pentagon, October 11, 2019.
Transcript
Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper: It is a pleasure to welcome you to the Pentagon and to meet you for the first time. Thank you very much for coming today. I understand you have just arrived from a visit to Indo-Pacom, and I hope you enjoyed your meeting with our personnel in Hawaii. The security relationship between the United States and Micronesia continues to be very close, and I’m hopeful it will get even closer. We are very proud, as you and I discussed, of the many Micronesian citizens who serve in the United States military, the highest per capita of anywhere else. This is remarkable. Our partnership has strengthened maritime law enforcement in the Pacific, and we also share similar priorities to the Compact of Free Association, which plays an important role in regional stability. I look forward to discussing its renewal with you and hearing your perspectives on security challenges in the Indo-Pacific.
President of the Federated States of Micronesia David Panuelo: Well Secretary, first of all, congratulations. I’m really proud of the relationship that we do have between our two countries. You know the Federated States of Micronesia and the United States have a long-standing strategic partnership that reflects the common values of our two countries, namely sovereignty rule of law, and you know, regional security. We’re proud of that, and we’re proud that our citizens serve in the U.S. armed forces at the highest per capita, and we’re proud of the close ties that, you know, the alliance that we do enjoy between our two countries. And yes we were just recently at the Indo-Pacom, and we appreciate very much the security briefings that we do get, and I requested that we get this kind of briefing at least twice a year so that we can understand regional security, that we do continue to play. And FSM Micronesia is very proud to play a role in the role of keeping the Indo-Pacom region secure for our global community.