PALIKIR, Pohnpei (FSMIS) – The Department of Economic Affairs hosted a Public Sector Enterprise Workshop, September 25-26, at Palikir to discuss and make further commitments to transforming many of the publicly-owned commercial enterprises.

Over 75 people representing the State and National governments, many of them were from public sector enterprises (PSE’s), and the private sector attended the workshop.

Asian Development Bank team of consultants from the Aries Group and the Department of Economic Affairs supported the workshop.

The participants held open discussions about the criteria for reforming PSE’s, the range of stakeholders affected by the proposed challenges, and developed further plans and strategies for reforming several key public companies, according to the communiqué issued after the workshop.

In the communiqué the PSE analyzed and discussed issued regarding the following:

FSM Telecommunications Corporation
National Aquaculture Center in Kosrae
Pohnpei Fisheries Corporation
Pohnpei Radio Station
Chuuk Hospital Services
Chuuk Airport and Port Authority
Micronesian Petroleum Corporation
Kosrae School Bus Service
Yap Radio and Television
Yap Public Transportation
Yap Port Authority

The outcomes of the two-day deliberations were Expressions of Intent outlining the current status and next steps to be taken in the transformation process for those enterprises discussed by each of the delegations. The Expressions of Intent will also be the basis for seeking further donor technical support to the PSE reform process.

Continuing to actively support this process will be the Public Sector Enterprise Unit now located in the Department of Economic Affairs. The support will include technical assistance in the form of financial data gathering and analysis, and overall facilitation of the steps necessary to properly reform each of the selected public sector enterprises.