News Brief, January 13, 2012

Yap Traditional Council Signs MOU with ETG
Members of the State Leadership were on hand to witness and help officiate the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Yap Council of Pilung and ETG during a ceremony held at the Dining Room of the Yap Pacific Dive Resort at 5:00 pm on Thursday, January 12, 2012.

The signing of the MOU by the Honorable Bruno Tharngan, Chairman of the Traditional Council of Pilung and Mr. Deng Hong, Chairman of the Exhibition & Travel Group based at Chengdu city in Sichuan Province, People's Republic of China, signifies the beginning of an investment offer by the ETG.

With the MOU in place, ETG will open an office in Yap where people who owns land could make deal for their land parcels that could be used by ETG for the investment project.

The ETG Chairman delivered a remark after he and Chairman Bruno Tharngan signed the MOU last night.

During his remark, Chairman Deng told the State Leadership that the signing of the MOU is both special and historical because this will move the proposed investment project forward.

He pointed out that this project will bring more benefits and improve the living standards of the people of the State. He said people would benefit from the money they receive under their land lease, employment that company will create and business opportunities for locals.

Chairman Deng also mentioned historical and cultural plans in which the company will build new villages where the local people could conduct business with visitors interested in the culture. The villages will serve as centers for local activities such as local dance performance, carvings, weaving, etc. The ETG plans to build several villages which will be given free to the communities so they could be used for daily activities by the local people.

The ETG has a plan to assist the State Government with its education and health development plan. He said the company could donate medical equipments and build facilities for the education system.

Before he concluded his remark, Chairman Deng told the State Leadership that the success of the project will depend on the development and improvement of the infrastructure in Yap especially the International Airport so it could open up for direct flights between Yap the Asian countries including Japan and Korea.

In conclusion, the ETG chairman expressed his feeling towards the number of people in Yap infected by the Dengue Fever outbreak and wished for their speedy recovery. He presented a Check in the amount of US$20, 000 to Governor Anefal as donation for medications for the people of the State.

Governor Sebastian Anefal delivered a remark on behalf of Chairman Bruno Tharngan first thanked Chairman Hong, CEO Liu and the rest of the ETG group for taking the time off from their busy schedule to visit and deliberate more with the people in Yap on the project.

The Governor also thanked members of the State Leadership who were able to make it to the ceremony and the Honorable Carl Apis, Charge 'de Affairs of the FSM Embassy in Beijing, People's Republic of China for his active role for the initiation of the project.

Governor began his remark by saying, "I join Chairman Deng in giving full recognition to the very special guests this evening. This moment is one at the same time historic in that the signing as we have witness of the MOU between ETG and the Council of Pilung signifies that we have taken one of the many steps going forward in as far as the ETG project is concerned."

The Governor mentioned that although ETG and Yap State haven't gone through the process of many papers to be reviewed, signed or approved, the signing of the MOU has given both Yap State and the ETG more anticipation on the project moving forward.

He said the project involves many things that we are not really clear on but as Chairman Deng has described, it is a dream and a dream must start somewhere. Governor Anefal added that we cannot do much on the project without the support and understanding of the FSM national government, which has a very important role to play.

He emphasized on the need for the people in the State Government as well as the people of the State to support and fully understand the benefits and other unforeseen impacts that the investment project will bring to the State so we could have control of both.

Before concluding his remark, Governor has mentioned that Yap and the FSM still have so many things to undertake before this project could be implemented.

The ETG will deal directly with the Council of Pilung on any issues concerning the implementation of the investment project with Yap State Government as facilitator and network safety.

The MOU signing ceremony at the Pacific Divers Resort ended following a dinner reception hosted by the ETG.