Palau, U.S. exchange diplomatic notes in historic ceremony

On March 15, the United States and the Republic of Palau held a significant exchange of notes ceremony at the Palau Nippon Baseball Stadium. This event marked the formalization of the Compact of Free Association Section 432 Review, signed last year. The Compact Review Agreement (CRA) secures $889 million in funding for Palau over the next 20 years, starting a year early. This amount is more than double the original negotiation in 2020, marking a milestone in the 30-year diplomatic relations between the two nations.

The funding was appropriated as part of a larger minibus budget bill signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 9. The ceremony, witnessed by President Surangel S. Whipps, Jr. and hundreds of Palauans, saw Minister Gustav N. Aitaro of the Palau Ministry of State and U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Palau, Joel Ehrendreich, sign their respective diplomatic notes.

This exchange is a crucial step in the CRA, signifying an expanding partnership between Palau and the United States. The CRA provides Palauan citizens with opportunities to pursue higher education at in-state tuition rates anywhere in the U.S., eligibility for services of the National Health Service Corps, the Legal Services Corporation, and the Rural Housing Service, and authorization for the Veterans Affairs to provide hospital care and medical services to veterans in Palau.

Similar ceremonies are expected for the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia, which also signed Compact Review Agreements last year. The budget legislation passed by Congress includes about $7 billion in economic aid over the next 20 years in exchange for exclusive U.S. military rights. The combined territorial seas and exclusive economic zones of these three nations span approximately 3,473,751 square miles, roughly the land area of the contiguous United States. mbj