A Report for BBC World Service "Calling the Falklands" by D. Vogle 11/04/03
Part 1 (Governors’ Conference and Falklands)
This week the Islands’ Governor (HP) has been in London to take part in the Annual meeting of all the Governors in the Overseas Territories. And, as he told Louise Swan (LS) this morning, he found the assembled Governors had a whole range of issues under discussion.
HP: We had a look at how the White Paper on the Overseas Territories is working after four years, we talked about human rights issues, environment, financial related issues, some issues related to the way aviation and maritime security is handled in the Overseas Territories. It was quite a full agenda inevitably with these meetings because the majority of our Overseas Territories are in the Caribbean and we tended to focus on quite a lot of Caribbean issues. A Number of these are not quite centrally of importance to the Falkland Islands. But it’s a very useful opportunity just to share experiences and not least, actually to talk to one’s colleagues who are doing similar jobs around the world, in the margins about how we are all getting on.
LS: And, yesterday, there as much talk on the Islands about the Argentine airline request for flights to the Islands. And, I just wondered what your thoughts were about that?
HP: I have just heard about that myself. I think the view in the Falkland Islands, given past history, and particularly the history of the 1970s, is that it would not be appropriate at this point to establish direct and regular commercial airline links with Argentina. We have links through Chile, which actually work extremely well. And, I think as things stand, people in the Islands feel much more comfortable with that link.
LS: And, four months into the job, you had a long-term relationship with the region in that you were in Buenos Aires in the 1970 with the Foreign Office. Any surprises about the things that you learned? Is it very much as you expected the job to be?
HP: The job is absolutely fascinating. I was well briefed before I went to the Falklands but having known the Falklands in the late 1970s and returning now 25 years or so later, it is remarkable how much has changed and how much the Falkland Islands have developed.
And, as I have said on a number of occasions in the past, I think perhaps the most important change is a change in the core spirit of the Islands. The Islanders are now full of optimism about the future, and I think much more confident about their present and future, circumstances, feel much more secure than they did.
And, I think if I were to identify one single thing which encapsulates that, it concerns young people because young people now have the opportunity to go back to the United Kingdom to complete their education. But almost all of them are keen to return to the Falklands, perhaps after having gained some professional experience in the UK or elsewhere in the World. But I have been very struck by the quality of so many young people in the Falkland Islands and by the number of them who now are actually going to acquire professional qualifications and bring those skills back to the Falklands. And, they are very much voting with their feet by returning to the Falklands to commit their lives there and I think that’s extremely encouraging.
I think it’s a very exciting time to be there and I find it a very, very positive place.
(100X Transcription Service)
