Kiribati Requests U.S. Support for its Inter-American

UNCLAS SUVA 000220 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EFIS PREL KR IATTC SUBJECT: Kiribati Requests U.S. Support for its Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission Membership Bid ¶1. We have received a diplomatic note from Kiribati (FAI: 13/4/163) dated 21 May 2009 requesting U.S. Support for its application to join the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission. ¶2. The text of the note follows: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration of the Republic of Kiribati presents its compliments to the Embassy of the United States of America and has the honour to seek the favorable support of the Government of the America to Kiribati's application for membership to the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC). The Government of Kiribati is strongly committed to the conservation and management of fisheries for tunas and other species taken by fishing vessels within its territorial waters and concerned about the need to maintain the population of tuna. Last year, the Government of Kiribati has designated an enormous swath of Pacific atolls, coral reefs and deep ocean to become one of the world's largest marine reserves. The so called "Phoenix Islands Protected Area" become the third largest marine park will preserve and safeguard some of the planet's most pristine coral reef ecosystems including tuna stock. As part of its effort to become a member of the IATTC, Kiribati will be attending the forthcoming meeting of the IATTC scheduled for June 2009 in California as a cooperating non-party and to present its reports and application for full cooperation member of the Inter -American Tropical Tuna Commission IATTC. In this regard, the Government of Kiribati would highly appreciate the valuable support of the Government of America in this matter. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Immigration of the Republic of Kiribati avails itself of the opportunity to renew to the Embassy of the United States of America the assurances of its highest consideration. Bairiki Tarawa 21 May 2009 END TEXT McGann