The Banyan Tree Leadership Forum with Tommy Remengesau, President of Palau

The CSIS Pacific Partners Initiative is pleased to host a conversation with His Excellency Tommy Remengesau, president of the Republic of Palau. He will discuss Palau’s effort to protect its marine resources and sovereign maritime territory. The U.S. and Palau are formal partners under a Compact of Free Association agreement, an important alliance given Palau’s geostrategic importance. Palau has proposed to transform its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) into a national marine sanctuary. Although monitoring and enforcing the sanctuary will present challenges, it also presents opportunities to leverage partnerships with allied nations and NGOs to enhance Palau’s enforcement capabilities to protect the sanctuary from illegal fishing. President Remengesau will make keynote remarks, followed by a panel discussion.

President Tommy Remengesau is the eighth president of the Republic of Palau, and the first Palauan to be elected president three times. He was first elected president in 2000 and was re-elected in 2004. Constitutionally limited to two consecutive presidential terms, Remengesau served from 2008 to 2012 as senator in the Palau National Congress before being re-elected president again in 2012.