JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to meet with Gov. David Ige and the governors of Alaska and Pacific U.S. territories amid ongoing tensions with North Korea.
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to meet with Gov. David Ige and the governors of Alaska and Pacific U.S. territories amid ongoing tensions with North Korea.
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker told reporters the meeting, scheduled for today in Hawaii, is expected to focus on Trump’s upcoming trip to Asia and “Pacific theater issues” affecting the governors.
Walker, who is politically unaffiliated, raised concerns with North Korea weapon’s tests and suggested the strategic importance of having a naval base in Alaska.
The governors of the U.S. territories of Guam, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands were invited to the meeting, Walker said.
Walker plans to travel to Hawaii with Trump’s team from Washington, D.C., where he testified before a U.S. Senate committee Thursday in support of opening a portion of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas exploration.
Walker then plans to travel separately to China. There, he and the director of the Alaska Gasline Development Corp., a state-supported corporation courting Asian investors for a proposed mega-gas project in Alaska, will be part of a delegation expected to participate in events with Trump.
Walker sees it as a major opportunity to draw attention to the long hoped-for liquefied natural gas project, which has been marked by changes in direction and has seen interest by Alaska state legislators wax and wane.