Page 16 - IB APR 2017

Politics
Hilda pushes her world agenda

By Nic Maclellan
AFTER 16 months in office, Marshall
Islands President Hilda C. Heine has a
busy schedule.
On the international stage, the Republic
of the Marshall Islands (RMI) has been
active in global negotiations on climate
change and nuclear weapons. But with
key funding ending in 2023 under the
current Compact of Free Association
with the United States, the RMI govern-
ment faces difficult financial decisions to
maintain health, education and welfare
programs.
As the first woman elected as leader
of an independent Pacific island nation,
Heine has a full agenda.
Early in her career, she worked as
Secretary of Education and has a lifelong
involvement in education policy. The first
Marshallese woman to gain a Ph.D., He-
ine also worked in Honolulu with Pacific
Resources for Education and Learning
(PREL), a non-profit organisation that
works across Micronesia to promote President Hildsa Heine ...woman on the move. Photo: Nic Maclellan
“strong schools, healthy communities, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
and thriving cultures with Pacific hearts on the oceans. SDG 14 calls on nations to
and global minds”. ‘ there is justice for the conserve and sustainably use the oceans,
In government, Heine sees education as people seas and marine resources for sustainable
a central focus for community improve- We will not rest until ‘ development, and Fiji and Sweden will
ment and government action. co-host the United Nations Conference
“Education is something that I do on - President Hilda Heine on nuclear on Oceans and Seas in June.
a daily basis, improving the education of justice, regional priorities and This meeting will be the first of three
our people,” she told Islands Business. women’s role in politics. international gatherings over the next 15
“We look at other small countries in the years, to coordinate international action
world that have been able to thrive be- in the politics of tuna. The regional on ocean policy.
cause their people are educated and have headquarters for the Parties to the Nauru Heine says that the Marshall Islands is
the skills necessary to move their country Agreement (PNA) is located in Majuro, preparing to intervene in the global meet-
forward. That’s what we hope to be able working to sustainably manage tuna ing with policies developed at a national
to do - to educate all our people and get through the Vessel Day Scheme (VDS), oceans conference in April.
them to the level that can sustain them.” regional surveillance programs and cam- “This would be the first time that we’ve
Like other Micronesian nations with paigns against illegal, unreported, and come together as a country to look at the
large Exclusive Economic Zones, the unregulated fishing. issues facing our oceans,” she said. “We
Marshall Islands is also actively involved Heine welcomes the new focus of the want to be able to come up with a frame-

16 Islands Business, April 2017