The funding gap holding up agreement on the Marshall Islands Compact appears to be narrowing.
The Marshalls Compact negotiator, Robert Muller, describes the latest US proposal as more forthcoming.
The US has now increased its offer by ten million US dollars a year.
The original offer was for nearly twenty four million a year.
The new figure includes an additional four million dollars for special needs at Kwajalein Atoll, which is home to nearly ten thousand Marshall Islanders who live in slum conditions next to a key US missile testing range
The new Marshall Islands proposal and the counter offer from the US focus on funding through to 2023.
