The Assistant Secretary for Insular Areas in the Department of the Interior, Esther P. Kia’aina will be on island beginning Nov. 10, 2014, for five days.

The announcement was made during the cabinet meeting held last Tuesday at the Agriculture Conference room, where Chief of Staff Fiu Johnny Saelua, explained the schedule for the week, in which back to back meetings with Kia’aina are planned.

Fiu noted there will be an ava ceremony Tuesday morning, Nov. 11, and then Kiaiana will be attending a ceremony at the Veterans Affairs, with Tuesday being Veterans Day. She will be the keynote speaker at the occasion.

He said Kia’aina will travel to Manu’a on Wednesday, where she will conduct site visits of the schools, government buildings and projects ongoing in Manu’a. The government has chartered a plane for this visit, according to Fiu.

He emphasized the need for all cabinet members to attend the ava ceremony and the site visits. According to Fiu, Kia’aina will meet with the Governor, Lt Governor, Chief Justice, Senate President and House Speaker. She will also meet with the heads of all the semi-autonomous agencies, and visit several  government departments.

Kia’aina will also be conducting site visits to the projects that are being funded by Capital Improvement Project (CIP) funds.

According to www.allgov website, Kia’aina was born in Guam and her parents were of Hawaiian ancestry. Kia’aina graduated from the University of Southern California with a B.A. in international relations and political science in 1985, receiving an M.A. from Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies in 1988 and a J.D. from The George Washington University in 1998.

In 2012, Kia’aina was appointed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie to be deputy director of Hawai’i’s Department of Land and Natural Resources, a position she held until her Interior Department nomination.