PREAMBLE

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE GOVERNMENTS OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDS AND THE FEDERATED STATES OF MICRONESIA

Affirming that their Governments and their relationships as Governments are founded upon respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, and that the peoples of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands have the right to enjoy self-government; and

Affirming the common interests of the United States of America and the peoples of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands in creating close and mutually beneficial relationships through three free and voluntary associations of their respective Governments; and

Affirming the interest of the Government of the United States in promoting the economic advancement and self-sufficiency of the peoples of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; and

Recognizing that their previous relationship has been based upon the International Trusteeship System of the United Nations Charter, and in particular Article 76 of the Charter; and that pursuant to Article 76 of the Charter, the peoples of the Trust Territory have progressively developed their institutions of self-government, and that in the exercise of their sovereign right to self-determination they have, through their freely-expressed wishes, adopted Constitutions appropriate to their particular circumstances; and

Recognizing their common desire to terminate the Trusteeship and establish two new government-to-government relationships each of which is in accordance with a new political status based on the freely-expressed wishes of peoples of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands and appropriate to their particular circumstances; and

Recognizing that the peoples of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands have and retain their sovereignty and their sovereign right to self-determination and the inherent right to adopt and amend their own Constitutions and forms of government and that the approval of the entry of their respective Governments into this Compact of Free Association by the peoples of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands constitutes an exercise of their sovereign right to self-determination;

     NOW, THEREFORE, AGREE to enter into relationships of free association which provide a full measure of self-government for the peoples of the Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia; and

     FURTHER AGREE that the relationships of free association derive from and are as set forth in this Compact; and that, during such relationships of free association, the respective rights and responsibilities of the Government of the United States and the Governments of the freely associated states of the Marshall islands and the Federated States of Micronesia in regard to these relationships of free association derive from and are as set forth in this Compact.