 Hello, everyone. I am Tamir Mangasau, Jr., President of the Republic of Palau. Palau is a rapidly developing island state known for careful environmental stewardship. Our culture of conservation has led to world-leading initiatives like the Palau National Marine Sanctuary, the Palau Plets, and the Micronesia Challenge. These initiatives, in turn, have fueled our economy through the development of a high-value, low-impact tourism industry. This sustainable industry and the economy that depends on it are connected to the world by a single submarine cable. This makes Palau very vulnerable. If the cable was ever damaged, Palau's capacity would plummet to less than 10% of its current demand. At that level, we could barely manage essential government operations. It is imperative then for Palau to address this vulnerability by establishing a second connection. We found an opportunity to do so with the ECO cable network and plans were moving forward at full steam when COVID-19 hit, disrupting our access to finance. Fortunately, our close friends in Australia, Japan, and the United States reached out through their tripartite infrastructure partnership. With their help, the project is back on track and Palau now looks forward to telecom resiliency as soon as next year. Global challenges demand international solutions and partnerships and this pandemic is making that very clear. Palau is like too many countries in that with all our development, we are one disaster away from losing so much progress. We are fortunate to have friends like Australia, like Japan, and like the United States. With their partnership, we will continue the fight to maintain our development progress in the face of this unprecedented challenge. Thank you very much. Foreign Minister Payne and Secretary of State Pompeo, we are here today to announce that the Palau undersea cable project will be delivered under our trilateral infrastructure partnership. I am so happy to join you. Palau needs safe, resident, and reliable communication network. This project is very important for Palau strategically and geographically. As Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, I declare that Japan is determined to continue offering quality infrastructure for the Indo-Pacific region. Thank you. I'm delighted that Australia, Japan, and the United States along with the government of Palau are working together to finance and construct a new Palau submarine cable as the first project under the trilateral partnership for infrastructure investment in the Indo-Pacific. The spur cable to Palau will connect with the new cable from Singapore to the West Coast of the United States, the world's longest. Palau's economy relies heavily on tourism and has been significantly affected by COVID-19. Improving connectivity and internet access across Palau's several hundred islands will open up opportunities to boost tourism, business, and investment and to provide better government services. Australia, Japan, and the United States are delivering sustainable, high quality infrastructure projects that reflect our shared commitment to maintain and promote an Indo-Pacific region that is stable, prosperous, and resilient. This project builds on our work together led by the Papua New Guinea government on the Papua New Guinea electrification partnership with support also from New Zealand. I'm proud to be with my trilateral strategic dialogue counterparts, Minister Motegi and Secretary Pompeo, working so closely for regional prosperity and sovereignty. Hello everyone, Secretary Pompeo here. It's an honor to stand alongside Foreign Minister Payne of Australia and Foreign Minister Motegi of Japan. Our countries are proud to support the construction of a new undersea fiber optic cable to the Republic of Palau, along with Palau's government. We want to help the people of Palau develop their economy, strengthen links to their neighbors and the United States, and emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic more resilient and more connected. This is what free nations do. They support one another openly, transparently, and for mutual benefit. We want high-quality infrastructure, including communications infrastructure, installed all across the Indo-Pacific, not just in Palau. This project also reflects a team effort across the entire United States government. The State Department, our new International Development Finance Corporation, USAID, and the Department of Interior have all pulled together to make this happen. Since I announced our Pacific Pledge last year, the United States has now provided more than $300 million in new assistance to the Pacific Island nations, and we're just getting started. We look forward to supporting more projects like this one through our trilateral infrastructure partnership with Japan and Australia and the Blue Dot Network. The United States and the American people are proud to support the economic development of the Indo-Pacific region and to do it in cooperation with two of our closest Democratic allies. Our work together supports peace, prosperity, and, most importantly, freedom. Thank you.