During the state of the Union, President Remengesau announced that Dr. Caleb Otto will be taking the seat at the United Nations in New York. Dr. Otto will be replacing Honorary Palau citizen Stuart Beck who has been serving as the UN ambassador for ten years.
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Stuart Beck attended Harvard University and later Yale Law School. As a lawyer he helped negotiate the Compact of Free Association, which established Palau as an independent nation in association with the United States in 1994. He was granted honorary citizenship and in 2003 he accepted the post as Palau’s first Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
Becks Replacement is Dr. Otto, a former medical practitioner and Senator. Dr. Otto has since become very active in promoting both sports and tobacco legislation under the Coalition for Tobacco Free Palau.
As Ambassador for the last ten years Stuart Beck was paid one dollar per year, provided his own housing in New York and has been able to obtain volunteers to run the Palau office. OTV contacted the Presidents office about the details regarding Dr. Ottos appointment, where he will be stationed and the budget for the NY office but had not received a response at the time of this report. We will continue to follow this story.