 Okay. We're back. I'd like to welcome you to our panel discussion. Again, for all those following us at Pacific Day on Twitter, it's at Pacific Partners DC and hashtag CSIS Live. I'm Ernie Bauer. I'm the senior advisor and co-director of the Pacific Partners Initiative at CSIS and we want to thank the Washington Pacific Committee which comprises of the Washington and New York based embassies, missions and representative offices of the Pacific Islands for hosting us today and special thanks to Fiji Airways for being our sponsor today. We've got a great panel and I intend to introduce them and I'm going to ask them some questions and today I really would like to welcome the audience to participate and ask these experts some questions. This is the first Pacific Day where I haven't seen a bunch of hands go up and then I open the floor. So I hope you guys were just having your Fiji water and now you're ready to participate with me. On my right is Kira and Ahuja. She's the executive director of the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. She previously served as executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum and was a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice in the Civil Rights Division. On my left, this is the Ulu of Tokolao. He serves as the chancellor of the University of the South Pacific in addition to his other roles and he's previously served as Tokolao's minister for health and support services. On my far right is Craig Hawk who's flown in from New Zealand. He is New Zealand's deputy secretary of foreign affairs and trade for international development and he manages New Zealand's aid program and advises the government on international development issues. Welcome Craig. On second to my left is Edgar Kagan. He's a deputy assistant secretary of state in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs responsible for relations with Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. And last but not least, on my far left, Adam Schumacher is director of the Office of East Asian and Pacific Affairs at U.S. AID and has responsibility for the Pacific Islands among other regions. I'd like to open up the floor with a first question to Kieran. To your ear, sitting at the White House, you heard an incredible, I think, speech by the Prime Minister. A lot of issues about the Pacific and American interest there. You dealt with Pacific Islanders who are Americans. We are part of the Pacific in the United States. How does the White House think about these issues and the connectivity between the Americans who are Pacific Islanders, American interests in the region and the region itself? Sure. Well, thank you very much. It's wonderful to be a part of this conversation. I will do a little bit of self-promotion. I am celebrating my birthday today. Happy birthday. Oh, another person there, wonderful. Oh, yeah. Fantastic. I won't share my age, but it is wonderful to be celebrating along with Pacific Day 2013 to be here with you. I've had my full day here spending time with everyone, and it's really been a wonderful conversation with many of the individuals here from the Pacific. I would like to share, I guess, initially a little bit about the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and why it's so particularly important to the President that this initiative was reestablished when he first came into office. It really is a lot about what we are talking about today, why both the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities are so incredibly important to this President. Of course, many of you know he has very deep hopes in the Pacific. And I know when I have gone to visit, especially in Hawaii, they consider him a son of Hawaii and have a very deep love and appreciation for our President. His family members hail from Asia Pacific. And some of us joke that he spent more time living in the Pacific than many of us. And so I think not only his personal relationships, but also what we've seen, really the transformation that has taken place across this country, that we have seen a tremendous demographic growth of the Pacific Islander community. Just in the 2010 census numbers, this community has grown by leaps and bounds. It is now 1.2 million. Currently, I've learned as recently as just last year, it is now 1.4 million. What's more interesting, I think just in the numbers, it's growing at 60%, which is more than double the national average, is that we are seeing communities in places like Arkansas, where there are more than 11,000 Marshallese Americans in those communities. In the South, in Utah. And as a part of the work that we do with the initiative, we work with so many different federal agencies across the government on a number of different issues from education to health, to increasing diversity in the federal government. And these issues are at the core of a lot of the work that we find is particularly important for this community. We're seeing just as many Pacific Islanders here on the continent, especially those that we have relationships with, whether the territories or the freely associated states, as those on the islands themselves. And a part of that conversation is, how do we build the relationships between Pacific Americans and others? And then as a part of my work, how do we build those bridges even within the Asian Pacific community? I have to tell you that as a part of this initiative, that I got a lot of pushback from the Pacific Islander community about not being forgotten and left out of this larger Asia-Pacific relationship. And we have made every effort that we can to talk about the issues that are particularly important for communities here on the continent. A large part of our portfolio is domestic. The president's been very clear when he created this initiative that no community should be invisible to its government. And we take that very seriously. And so a part of that is building the diversity in the federal workforce pipeline. So we can talk about these issues. And certainly, if you're from these parts of the world, it matters. But what about to the rest of the country? And I can tell you that the folks in Arkansas who are getting to know the Marshallese now know a little bit about the Pacific region because of the people that they are engaging with. We are also very engaged around the work around data and research because of the importance of counting individuals not only on the islands and also here to make sure that there is the proper representation because numbers equal resources to be able to provide those numbers in a way that shows the need that exists in the community. The conversation that we have on usually my conversation starts with. And so there's work that we need to do to address those issues. And we can even take that when it comes to talking about health disparities around obesity and heart disease. So just really more for conversation later, pushing out some of those nuggets of some of those issues that we've been working on and look forward to a more in-depth conversation with all of you. Well, I want to thank you very much. I want to take this idea, and I'm going to turn to Edgard because I think there's a question here that's been raised. And the question is, has the American pivot to the Asia Pacific extended to the Pacific? And certainly with Secretary Clinton at the PIF, I guess you could make the case that it has happened. But can that be sustained? Is it dependent on people? Are we restricted by money? Or will we be able to carry this on? And what would it take for us to do that? Well, thank you very much. And I want to thank the committee as well as Ambassador Moore and the New Zealand Embassy for your invite. The short answer is yes. The pivot, or if we have been retrained to say, rebalance, is, of course, the Asia Pacific rebalance. And the Pacific has been part of this. And I think most people here, you're well aware of it. For many years, truth is, we said Asia Pacific with a capital A and a lowercase p. And one of the challenges that we've faced in the last few years has been to try and change that. And the recognition of the fact that our engagement in the Pacific is very important to our broader engagement in the Asia Pacific region. We have obviously done a number of things. And we've alluded to one of them, which, of course, is in the highest profile, which is Secretary Clinton's attendance at last year's post-formed dialogue Pacific Island Forum. But I think it's important to couch this in broader terms. This wasn't something that just came out of nowhere. In the preceding years, we've done a number of things. One was Secretary Clinton started meeting Pacific leaders on the margins of the New England General Assembly. Also, we ramped up the size of our delegation to have more interagency participation to recognize that our engagement with the region really is sort of a whole government effort. That's particularly true with the freely associated states. But it's really remarkably true with the rest of the Pacific region. We also did a number of things, including when the region made very clear the importance of reopening a USAID office in the region. We responded by opening an office in Port Moresby. Also, Deputy Secretary Nides was, at the time, the highest level US attendee for Pacific Island's form in 2011, leading a delegation of over 50 people, which, again, was done in recognition of the importance of this broader engagement. Realizing the importance, understanding the importance of climate change, we have sought to increase the systems to the region in the areas of climate change. And we've tried very hard to make sure that the engagement has been as broad-based as possible. We looked at areas, for instance, dealing with fisheries, also trying to expand cooperation on the shipwright agreements where US Coast Guard now expanding to the Navy can help countries in the region enforce some of their EEZ regulations. So these are things which we see as part and parcel of making sure that the rebalance covers the Pacific region. And we think this is important for a number of reasons. One is the US is a long-standing historical and moral responsibility in the region. It's worth remembering, the last year was the 70th anniversary of the landing in Guadalcanal. And we're now celebrating a number of very important 70th anniversaries, which remind us of some of the history of US engagement in the region and what brought us there. It's also important to recognize that the region is important partners in international organizations. We depend very much on the values-based votes of the region, which is truly committed to democracy in the core, like the UN, both in New York and in Geneva. And so this is part of the broader engagement that we have and that we want to try and sustain. Now, I mean, very candidly, four years ago, what we heard was US isn't engaged enough in the region. We still hear that. But now what we hear more of is, you've done more. You've stepped up. Can you sustain it? And the reality is that whatever I say or people like me say, no one's going to do that. Words aren't going to do it. We have to actually show through our continued actions that we are stepping up, that we are going to continue to engage. We're not going to oversell what we're going to do. We're not going to solve all the problems. And we will probably never do as much as the region wants us to do. But the key is, can we continue to do more? And can we continue to do it in a way that genuinely respects the region's interests and concerns and does it as partners? And I think that we will do our best to do that. And candidly, whatever I say, it doesn't matter. Because people in the region are sophisticated enough to realize that the test is what we do. And hopefully we'll come through in the coming years and make clear that the Pacific is a very integral part of the rebalance of the Asia Pacific region. You make the point that the Pacific is an integral part of the rebalance. And I wanted to turn to Ulu and ask him for his take on the idea of the community of Pacific islands being a hub in the Asia Pacific. And I wondered if you could talk to that. Thank you. Moderator? Prime Minister Puna of Google Islands and the current share of the Pacific Leaders Forum. Ambassador Mike Moore, Excellencies and Distinguished Guest, ladies and gentlemen, and friends of the Pacific. I bring greetings and salutations from our part of the Pacific, from the elders and people of my homeland, Tokalau, my Lord. In relation to the question, Tokalauans are regarded as one of the oldest Pacific communities in the US diverse society. Most of the people who live in Hawaii and the territory of American Samoa since 1950 are US citizens or nationals and have contributed positively through the various sectors that they're serving, especially in military, fisheries and production services. We have close family and trade links with American Samoa. We are, for example, exploring fishing opportunities with a firm with facilities in American Samoa. If the venture proceeds, it will be a tangible demonstration of our contribution to the US society through jobs, trade, and people. Given the scale of the US, everything we do in tiny for the US yet for us, it's huge. In 2005, the Tokalauans living in Hawaii benefited from a grant by the administration of Native Americans in the US Department of Health and Human Service, intended to help preserve the Tokalauans' language and culture. Pacific calendars or the sentence of Pacific calendars in the US society are participating more in the US society. Thank you, our coordinator. Thank you very much. Adam, he mentioned a little bit about American participation. I wondered if you could talk a little bit about on-the-ground engagement, you're with USAID. What are we doing to assist these communities in their efforts to fight climate, the onset of climate change, renewable energy, some of these areas? Thank you. Well, needless to say, with the establishment of our office in Moseby, it gave us a much better capacity to be able to coordinate with donors, governments, and local communities. And we're really seeing that take a transpire right now with some of our programs. Just last year, we signed a MOU with New Zealand on the Kiribati Solid Waste Management Initiative. That is going to provide solid waste services to over 80% of the population there. And that's really a combination of working with the local population, the government, and with a donor that frankly has more experience than we do working in the region. In other areas, in terms of every approach with development, we're trying to take a balanced approach both working with government and local communities to make sure that it's more sustainable. So in other programs such as what we're working in Papua New Guinea with Mangro Forest, again, we're working with local communities on public awareness about the importance of replanting trees and actually putting local populations to work in planting trees and helping reach the government's goal of planting 1 million new trees over the next three years. So we're also understanding, trying to broaden our partner base, that we're not just focused on working with governments but also with academic institutions and trying to engage with the private sector. So much like, as I mentioned, with the Mangro Forest program, we're also working with Papua New Guinea University on building their capacity to help the government make more informed decisions through research and data collection. Looking ahead, while we have what we consider very strong partnerships with New Zealand and Australia, we'd like to move more from a coordination role with other donors such as JICA, ADB, and perhaps China to more of a collaboration that we have right now. Collaboration is really important, and it's something I want to touch on with Craig. Craig, you're heading up New Zealand's aid agency, and you've done some pretty innovative things in the Pacific. Also, trying to get China to get involved. The prime minister talked a little bit about this when he spoke. What about collaboration to assist in development in the Pacific? Kia ora and warm, civic greetings. First of all, I want to say thank you very much for dragging me away from a cold Wellington, New Zealand winter, so I can come over here to Washington. My temperature has gone up very high. But I think I want to start off by saying, picking up on Karen's comments around what the Pacific Island's community looked like writ large in the United States and say, maybe think about the parallels in New Zealand, that New Zealand has a very large Pacifica community, and it's very, very diverse. But it also keeps changing. And why we have now third and fourth generation Pacific Islanders living in New Zealand is very much its home. We recently put in place a seasonal workers scheme, where we've had a lot of Pacific Island countries of people, about 7,000 of them per year, have come down to New Zealand and they're working in the horticulture area. And they've actually gone to small town heartland New Zealand. And again, your connection around Arkansas and the Marshallese there, it's also brought another dynamic and another dimension to the New Zealand community. Not only that for New Zealanders, but also it's provided them with revenue, jobs and income. They've taken back to their countries of origin and it's allowed them to invest in small businesses or housing for their families. So again, there's a very nice win-win. And I guess I'm using that also in taking liberty around collaboration. But more generally, I think in the collaboration space, what we're really interested in, we're interested in working with anyone, because the most important thing for us is that results matter. Changing lives or saving lives is really what we're interested in working in the region. And that means we're very welcoming of partnerships and we are very much looking around collaboration with various kind of international organizations or countries. I want to mention a couple of things and the Prime Minister has already picked these up around the renewable energy area. I just want to provide a little bit of context around that. I want to say that the region is a place of opportunities. And in many cases, we talk about some of the constraints and the challenges and they are really real and they are big challenges for a region of ocean and many small islands. But there are great opportunities out there where we get together as an international community and we support the countries of the region. And in renewable energy, the region recently had a meeting in Auckland, the Pacific Energy Summit. That was designed to shine a spotlight on the issue of renewable energy. And 10% of the region's GDP was going on imported fuel sources. Now that money, over time, when we've increased the amount of renewable energy, it will be able to be diverted into service delivery for education and health. So we're on a journey, we're on a path to 50% renewable over time. And that's truly been a global effort. It's involved the private sector. It's involved aid agencies. And it's also involved non-government organizations. It's involved the banks. So I think that's a very important one around how collaboration together, when we pool our resources, can make a difference. And the other area I'd like to mention is around the water partnership. And the Prime Minister, again, this is working with China, New Zealand, and the Cook Islands. Just say, why are we doing it? And the first thing we're doing it because the Cook Islands asked us, that was the first reason. The second reason we're doing it is because we wanted to try and work with China in the Pacific. And we want to learn from China. And we hope China will be able to learn with us. We are a year into the partnership. It's about a four-year partnership. We'll finish in 2016. In the first year, we've really set up the frameworks, the governance. And so it's been the hard yards of getting to know each other, building trust, confidence. We have a whole set of range of formal governance levels right down to sort of smaller technical working groups. Hopefully, as the Prime Minister said, in the next few months, we're about to start the actual digging in the ground. But we see that partnership as a real opportunity to see if we can work with China in the region, if we can improve results on the ground, both in terms of our work, but also the work that they're doing in the region. So that's why I think collaboration is important, and it can make a difference. We've studied Chinese development at CSIS. We found it's really driven by their commerce ministry. It's very much about employing Chinese companies and Chinese labor. Was that the case in Cook Islands, in your collaboration with the Cook Islands? Or were you able to get China to think in a new way in terms of its approach? I think it's small steps. So it's a partnership also with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with Moff Coise. And it's also with a Chinese construction company. And then it's also some New Zealand companies that will be involved in, I guess, the quality assurance. But also, I think the Prime Minister also picked this up in terms of our engagement with China, starting to look at local labor content and how you can actually maximize and use, I guess, local businesses. And they're open to that kind of conversation. So yes, the heart of it still is a Chinese construction company, but there is now looking at the design, looking at the standards that we employed, which has a New Zealand component to it, and then also looking at possible local labor within them. And I think also the Cook Islands and I think Tonga have been very successful in getting local labor content into some of the Chinese construction contracts. A very senior minister from Southeast Asia told me, we'll believe the United States has a sustained rebalance and refocus on the Asia Pacific when your leadership starts to talk to Americans about why Asia is important to the United States. And I wanted to ask Kiran, I guess, the sense is, are we part of the Asia Pacific? How are we building that political foundation so that the consciousness, political consciousness of the United States has the mindset that we are part of it? And what would it take to do that? To build political consciousness here in the US? Yes. I don't have to ask these individuals here, but at least from the communities that we are engaging with, there is, I think there's great interest. I think interestingly enough, where we're seeing it, is actually within the business community. If you're from that particular region, individuals are organizing their own trade summits. They're very excited. We've done events at the White House around a pivot to Asia Pacific because they see real opportunities. So I think, of course, there is a little bit of that vested interest, whether business or personal interest. And I do think, it's interesting, I was kind of mulling this over because oftentimes when you have the policy discussions or when you talk about some of these issues, it can be a little bit humdrum. And I was thinking, this is a little different from just focusing on the Pacific, but my family's from India. And I have to say, the way India has become popular is through Bollywood, right? So through kind of this kind of pop culture and movies. And there's different ways that we find our way into kind of the hearts and minds of communities. And certainly it could be the personal relationships. The president has gone out and spoken about, has spoken at events where you've seen a really large gathering of Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders. We've seen even just a tremendous growth within and numbers of members of Congress in this recent election of representing these communities who are now second and third generation. I was joked that my family had, my parents had kind of one foot out and one foot in. Now we're kind of, at least some of us are all in, but I think that it's a good question. I don't think I necessarily have like a complete answer for it, but just some examples. The, you wonder whether innovation and technology, you know, people, the stories of people innovating and solving the problems in the Pacific might capture the imagination of Americans, maybe from business, maybe from sort of a science point of view. I wanna ask the Lulu, you, I heard, and I'd like to know if it's true, that the Tuklao has gone fully to 100% renewable energy. Is that true? And if so, how did you do that? Yes, the future should be committed to renewable energy. And the Tuklao became the first nation in the world to have all its electricity powered entirely by solar energy. We are tiny and we do not produce much CO2, yet we are greatly threatened by the impact of climate change. We therefore ask ourselves what we can do. And we are now producing virtually all of our electricity requirements from solar energy, more than 90%. It will be 100% if we did not have the occasional cyclone or cloudy period. We also manage our electricity demand. Electric cookers are banned, air conditioners are banned. Appliances which may here today take for granted, do not make it to Tuklao. Work towards renewable energy should not only be motivated by profit, but by a genuine commitment to an environment friendly quality of life. We owe this to the future. Wow, that's a great, okay, I need your help. I'd like to get some questions and thoughts from the audience. So just please identify yourself. We have people with mics and this young lady in the front here. Good evening. I am a Micronesian, specifically from the island of Guam. My home now is Maryland, but my heart is still in the island of Guam. But not just the island of Guam, but all the South Pacific islands. Because when I served in the U.S. Army, I had some Moans and Tongans and Saipanese next to me doing those battles that I served. So I'm very concerned. I have two major issues and concerns with the South Pacific islands. It's the climate change number one. The climate change is the State Department, the Department of Interior, the White House Initiative, and anyone else in the political status of the United States government ready, ready for mass exodus or even a small mass exodus of Pacific Islanders to move out of their homes because of the climate change, because the water is still rising. And the ocean is still getting hot. And when the ocean is hot, it kills our reef. And I know in my island in Guam, we are surrounded by coral reefs. And that reef is dying. That means we're gonna have waves and calabunga like Hawaii. We'll be able to surf like Hawaii because the ocean's gonna come into our island. But I'm very concerned about the low-lying islands like Marshall Islands, Caroline Islands, Palau, Trapp. I'm concerned about them. Is the United States, who is responsible for the islands in the South Pacific in some form of fashion, are they ready? Is there a vision plan, a 2020 vision plan to move those people somewhere? The people in the South Pacific has taken refugees from the Vietnam War, refugees from the Iraq War, refugees from Afghanistan War. Is the United States gonna be ready to take Pacific Islanders as refugees into the United States? Are they? I don't know. And I hope there is a vision 2020. The other major concern I have is every year thousands of veterans in the United States military swear in who are not US citizen, to be US citizen, thousands. Within that thousands are Pacific Islanders. In 2003, a young man from Couture went to Iraq, lost his leg and lost his arm. He's incarcerated in Micronesia area. He has to go to Hawaii to get treatment. The people in Guam is eight hours to get to Hawaii for treatment. It's only two and a half to get to the Philippines, but we don't have a memorandum agreement with their medical for the veterans. The soldiers deserve the same rights and privileges as the soldiers in the United States. But when they go home, one political status is taken away. They can't vote for precedent. Yet they serve that precedent. They can't vote for the next chief of staff. Yet they serve that chief of staff. Why? It's political status. That's a shame. The other one is the medical. It's not there in Guam. It's not there in Palau. It's not there in Couture. What's gonna happen in Tonga and American Samoa? I know American Samoa is having problems because they don't have a clinic, really. They need veteran help. And then what about Western Samoa? These guys are now US citizens because the United States military opened their doors to non-US citizens over 10 years ago. And every year they start up and say, I am a US citizen. But they go home. And the Afghanistan war is gonna end really soon. Everyone's gonna go home. How are we gonna serve those military people back in the islands? How are they gonna get the same privileges? White House Initiative, this is for you. The Veterans of Fair. Maybe you can collaborate with them and Department of Defense. But those are all major issues. Like I said, my home is Maryland. We have Guamean people here. Those are the people that I relate. But my passion is still in the island. There are other islanders here. Their passion is still with their island because their brother and sisters and their cousins and their mom and dad are still in the islands. So yes, consciousness here in the United States, it is here. The people like me and the rest of the Pacific Islanders who has power to vote for the congressman and their senators and the president, we go to the congressman and say, hey, when it comes to the island budgets and policies, don't forget. Don't forget Samoa. Don't forget Hawaii. Not Hawaii. Don't forget Guam. I mean, yes, Hawaii. It's a state, but you know, don't forget Guam. Don't forget CNMI. Don't forget the Marshall Islands. Don't forget Palau. Don't forget truck. We have the power with our congressmen. Those islanders don't. So yes, we are participating. We are trying our best to articulate our island's needs to the politicians we have here that we are, we do, have the right to tell them because we're the same right as the rest of the citizens here. Because we live here. Thank you very much. And before I ask my colleagues to answer, I just wanted to ask, are you running for office? Wow. Care to respond? Sure. I don't know if you want to touch on the climate change issue, but I'll speak a little bit about veterans issues and just some of the work we've been doing with NGOs on the ground and the islands. So we have been working very closely with some of our federal agencies, from the Health and Human Services, Department of Education, Department of Interior, even Department of Veterans Affairs. There is, as you may know, really a wonderful kind of growing segment of NGOs who are getting involved in issues around health and the economy and the environment and domestic violence issues. And we have been partnering with them to build those relationships directly with federal agencies. Their concern is that there's a ton of work that needs to happen, but they're not getting the resources that they need. And there's more just complicated issues from federal government to island governments to those individuals that run those nonprofits. My point is I think what's happening on the ground there is actually very good. And the broad collaborative organization is called Paiuta. I don't know if you've heard of it, it's actually based in Guam. But in particular with the veterans issues, that is something that the Department of Veterans Affairs is very well aware. We do know that a disproportionate number of our Pacific Islanders serve in this country and we're very grateful and very proud of the fact that they have given their service and in some cases given their lives too on behalf of this country. And as many of you may know, that there has been also an impetus towards moving those who do serve to become citizens in this country. So the challenge has been around building the facilities there to serve those to provide healthcare for the broader community but also in particular for veterans. So I will go back and check exactly like what has happened specifically around the veterans piece because I don't have an answer for you other than this is an issue that has been raised with us before, specifically with veterans about having to go to Hawaii and to get healthcare. So I do thank you for your comment. Just in terms of climate change, I have to say that it's really over just the last four or five years that we've been ramping up our efforts in climate change. So the vast majority of our budget that is going through the Pacific Island region is for climate change. And that's, as I said earlier, while that's what it's approximately be like almost $10 million a year, there's the only way we're gonna have real impact is if I said earlier about leveraging partnerships with not just other donors but also with the governments and the local population. Because a lot of the answers are there and it's just about how we've been through. I think we have seen successes as we've seen more and more islands using more renewable energy. And I think that's something we'll continue to promote. And we do have programs that are supporting that and we are committed to that. I wanna follow up. I'm gonna go to this question here in a second but I wanna follow up with the question of non-communicable diseases, communicable diseases, NCDs. I think they're responsible for almost three quarters of the deaths in the Pacific. Is there connectivity there? Can anyone talk to this issue? Probably, yeah, I think that's probably it. Sure, we have an HIV program. Again, it's community-based. It's right now focused on Papua New Guinea. We are seeing some positive results just as of late. But again, most of this is on public awareness. We haven't been able to take it to the level where we're actually providing medications and all that. We're also trying, recognizing the challenges with gender to make that access to HIV education is more accessible to women in particular as they're the ones who tend to be most impacted by it. Craig, you had a comment. Just a quick comment to pick up your point that around seven out of every 10 early or preventable deaths in the Pacific region are from non-communicable diseases. So I think there is the potential there for greater collaboration in this area. There's already some great work going on. We've been doing some tobacco control work in Samoa. We're also linked in with US Center for Disease Control and the Department of Health and Human Services. So there's a really good platform and a base there, but it is, as I said, the biggest killer in the region of Pacific Island's people, and it is something that we really want to work with the region on with other partners. The leverage, as Adam has said, for some outcomes because this is an important area about changing lives. And I would say, I think there's definitely an interest on our end. We've, in the past, held philanthropic griefings focused on the broader Asian Pacific Islander community. We held a very large briefing without 200 foundation representatives and federal officials last year at the White House. And then we've also gone to Hawaii twice for Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders. So there were Pacific Islander leaders who were flown in to Hawaii to meet with foundations and to start having the discussion about some of the issues. So I think, in the sense of building partnerships and also not only the resources from the federal government, but I do think foundations and other partners can be much more nimble and sometimes a lot faster and providing those resources. And I think that there's some real opportunities there. I do think that there needs to be some level of education about what those issues are and really kind of enticing or just really creating the interest to pay attention to the Pacific Islands. Thank you very much. Hand back here. Can't see the pictures. Talo Falava, my name is Charity Anna Protisano and I'm from American Samoa. I'm a second grade teacher there. First, I'd like to say thank you for giving us this opportunity to talk about Pacific issues and for a young person like myself to learn about what issues that are facing the Pacific. And so today I've heard efforts that Pacific leaders are taking to address conservation and environmental issues, but I like to hear about how Pacific leaders are addressing education issues. Yes, the environment is our economy and vice versa, but education is our future. So I'm just curious to find out what are our problems other Pacific Islanders are facing within their education system and how have leaders taken steps to address those issues? Thank you. Education. Go ahead. Talo Falava, I hesitate to speak on behalf of leaders, but I will speak as an official. There, the Pacific Islands Forum has an education ministers meeting, which is, and they meet and they run, I guess, a forum basic education action plan. And this is a sector that has some very, very good coordination and Australia, New Zealand, the UNESCO are supporting, for example, are supporting, I guess, better education outcomes. There are both access issues and there are quality issues across the region. And again, it's hard to generalize because the region, as you'll know, is diverse. And there are some countries independent, some countries have special relationships. So one size does not fit all. But just as an example, around access in the last couple of years, donors have supported the region, so there are now no fees in the Solomon Islands, in Samoa and in Vanuatu. So it's free fee education in those countries. So one issue around access, particularly that was also affecting girls, has now been overcome. So the focus in those countries is now quality because we also know it needs about trained teachers. So there are some major initiatives in, again, speaking from the Southern Pacific Islands around education in terms of trying to raise education quality and access. Thank you. In the back, all the way back here. Thank you. No, we'll get you a microphone right behind you there. Oh, great. Thank you. But thanks for offering to shout those out. I got some lungs, so why not use them? Brian Miller, born in Papua New Guinea, slight hybrid because I'm from Ohio as well. Similar in some ways. So this is largely for Mr. Kagan, Secretary, or regarding State Department. I was wondering, you mentioned a couple of times, Secretary Clinton's focus on the Pacific, Asia Pacific, this rebalancing. I'm wondering how that has already changed or is likely to change under Secretary Kerry. And secondly, moving forward, how can we in this room help ensure that the Pacific and Asian, that region continues to be a priority moving forward, especially with other priorities that continually assert themselves in the Middle East and elsewhere. Thanks. Great question. I thank you. We've gotten to the heart of the issue, which is the same. I think you know, very clearly in this policy and I think the show retail focus is specific in the last six months. I think Secretary Kerry has been to Asia once, will be going again. And I think he also is very interested in a number of issues that are very clearly at the intersection or where they intersect in many ways is in the Pacific region, particularly having to do with oceans and environment. Also, World War II legacies. So I think that what the challenge is going to be, of course, how do you compete given the demands everywhere? And that's never an easy thing to do. And you know, there's never a one-size-fits-all approach. I think that the real thing is to show that this is a priority, and it's a priority not out of charity. I think this is very important. The U.S. isn't just doing this for the region, we're also doing this for ourselves. This is a region that is important to us and that does matter. And it matters from a number of levels. One is very clearly in people. And I was thrilled to hear what you said, is I think that's something that often is forgotten, is how many Pacific Islanders serve in the U.S. military, obviously from the U.S. territories, but also from the freely associated states. And that's something that we're deeply honored by and humbled by their continued faith and commitment to the United States. I think that we have the growth of communities in the United States and that's also very important for us. And in that regard, I think that people here, you're all potentially able to play a very important role in making clear that this is a priority for you. Because we're not just talking about the state vote, we're not just talking about the U.S. government, we're talking about the broader community in the United States and to realize that there is sustained support from engagement in the region. I think that's very important. But I think that the critical thing is that we have to be effective in what we do. And that means collaborating within our government and it's no surprise that's not always the easiest thing to do. It's also important to collaborate with our partners in the region and other donors and outside players. And I think that this is something that we've tried very hard to ramp up. Clearly it's a work in progress. We will continue to do that because we recognize that the only way we can be effective is if we can collaborate effectively with our partners. Okay, did the gentleman in the red shirt have a question? Oh, I see, okay, okay, okay. So I've been encouraged, actually urged from the back of the room, I get these hand cues to wrap up here, and I will. Because I think there's a ray of sunshine and man, when the sun shines, it's time for a reception to start on Pacific Day. So I don't wanna get between you and the reception, but please join me in thanking this fantastic panel for their questions and I just a thought as you go in and enjoy each other and enjoy the beautiful hospitality of the New Zealand Embassy. Think about this. I think collaboration, there needs to be a narrative, there needs to be a story, and everyone here is gonna have to work together to be part of telling that story if we're gonna keep the Asia Pacific on the top of the agenda, and particularly the Pacific. So we all have work to do and we all have work to do together. So thank you again for coming tonight. Thank you. Thank you.