President of Palau once more

Last week I wrote about the President of Palau's visit to Norway in connection with a summit on illegal fishing. President Tommy Remengesau was received in audience at the Royal Palace on Tuesday 30 May. When preparing for the article, I learnt that NTB Scanpix had taken photos of the president together with King Harald, but still I haven't seen any photo of the event published anywhere.

Fortunately the Norwegian Foreign Office had a better understanding of the historic event as a photo of President Remengesau and minister of foreign affairs Børge Brende was published on 1 June 2017 after their meeting earlier in the week. Thre press release told that Norway and Palau had signed an agreement to open diplomatic relations. Brende said: – We have many common spheres of interest, among others international co-operation on climate, environment and sea management.

In addition to King Harald and minister of foreign affairs Brende, President Remengesau also met President of the Storting (Parliament) Olemic Thommesen and Minister of Climate and Environment Vidar Helgesen.

The above-mentioned summit was the first summit between the parties which had signed and ratified the Agreement on port state measures to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (the Harbour State Agreement) (text at Lovdata.no). According to the press release Palau has problems with illegal fishing in its exclusive economic zone. The president has personally fronted the work to achieve better control and management of the important fishing resources, and to keep (protect) the island state's marine biodiversity. The latter is also important for the country's tourist industry.

See also Norway Today 2 June 2017, Linkedin.com as well as the President's official Facebook page.