Falklands : Overseas Territories Consultative Council Report (12/10/09)
Submitted by Falkland Islands News Network (Juanita Brock) 16.12.2009 (Article Archived on 13.01.2010)
The Hon Dick Sawle MLA has returned from the Overseas Territories Consultative Council and updates the Falklands on what happened at this most important meeting.
Overseas Territories Consultative Council Report
By the Hon Mr Dick Sawle MLA
A group Photo
Programme:- I left Stanley on Friday 4th December and arrived in the FIGO flat on Saturday morning, unfortunately too late to attend the Falkland Islands Association’s annual Battle Day ceremony at the Cenotaph and their AGM. I arrived there just as Zoran Zuvic was getting into his uniform and heading out of the door
The Overseas Territories Consultative Council (OTCC) business commenced on Monday morning at 0900hrs, with a meeting with the Minister, Chris Bryant MP, who is the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. I was accompanied by Sukey Cameron, our Representative in London.
This bilateral meeting is an important one. Each of the Overseas Territories has an opportunity to meet individually with the Minister, and thereby has the chance to air any issues which are Territory specific.
We discussed the recent election and he made mention of the fact that there had been a vote for complete change. He asked whether we had decided to elect a leader or not, I said that we had decided to have no individual leader but that we would appoint a spokesperson for each month and that all portfolios would have equal status.
I thanked the Minister for his letter following the election, in which he had reaffirmed the UK’s sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and the UK’s unconditional commitment to our right to self-determination. It is important for us that these sentiments are expressed formally and on a regular basis.
We discussed our economy in brief terms, I briefed the Minister on our deficit budget situation, the fact that we were fortunate to have healthy reserves and on the current state of play regarding the economic development strategy which will be the subject of much public debate in the new year. Specifically in terms of the provision of niche financial services, I made mention that we would request the support and assistance of the UK Government with these plans, especially given that the provision of financial services to other Overseas Territories has caused many concerns. The Falklands wishes to get it right first time, and has in mind other markets than the off-shore services provided by some other Overseas Territories.
As part of the briefing concerning our economy, we also discussed the possible provision of new port facilities and the benefits such a port would bring to the Falklands – especially the fishing sector.
We also discussed current issues such as defence, oil and diversifying the economy.
Regarding next of kin visits, I was keen to point out that humanitarian visits such as these should always be allowed to go ahead and that the last two such visits had been successful. It was a shame that Argentina would seemingly always be prepared to make political mileage out of what are solemn and humanitarian visits.
We briefly touched on the way in which the Falklands was constantly having to meet ever more stringent requirements due to our UK and EU relationship, and the difficulties this can cause with being such a ‘small island’ economy, where not only are financial resources restricted, but also human resources are often fully stretched.
The Minister finished by saying that it is important for the Falklands and himself to keep in touch regarding all current issues and he was happy to be consulted on issues at any time.
On Monday afternoon , Sukey chaired a pre OTCC meeting of the UK Overseas Territories Association (UKOTA). All of the Overseas Territories representatives attended the meeting with the various delegations from the Territories. UKOTA was formed to promote the interests of the Territories and also to foster co-operation between them. The Association provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and discussion of relevant issues of common interest. UKOTA publishes a newsletter and also has a website for further information which is www.ukota.org
The discussions ranged widely, but most of the points raised were relevant to the agenda for the meetings over the next two days, so it would be repetitive to mention them here. One thing that was of interest was the OT’s request to at this meeting to put forward in the OTCC, a motion that the OT’s be allowed to have a representative lay the Overseas Territories wreath on Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph. To date this has always been carried out by the Foreign Secretary, and we all felt that the OT’s should make this gesture on their own behalf. It was agreed that it was appropriate that the Falklands put forward this motion at the OTCC, and in fact I did so at a lunch for delegation leaders, hosted by the Minister on the Wednesday. He promised to see what could be done.
On Tuesday, from 0830 to 1700 hrs, I attended the OTCC Forum. The Forum was held at the request of the OT’s to look at the White Paper “Progress through Partnership” ten years on. The facilitator was Adela Gooch (ex journalist and currently programme director at Wilton Park conference centre). The idea of the Forum was to stimulate discussion and debate on the issues raised in the White Paper. Unfortunately, I found it didn’t stimulate much discussion as many of the OT leaders and representatives simply took the opportunity to read pre-prepared and lengthy speeches summarising their Territory’s economic development or constitutional reform (for example). This was a shame as it would have been more productive to have had serious debate and discussion on where we all are now and what needs to be done in the future. It was agreed that we would review the format of the forum for next year and that delegates would put forward their ideas beforehand.
Both in the Forum and also, more effectively in the annual OTCC the following day, with Ministers present, a number of issues were raised which will be reported on and minuted in more detail in due course in official documents which have not yet been received of course. However, in the meantime, the general topics that were raised for discussion and debate and which were perhaps of most interest were, for example:-
- The role and powers of Governors – I asked the group of Governors present if they could envisage a system that might replace Governors with something less individual and more modern and appropriate to reflect the changing relationship between the Territories and HMG. The Governor of Pitcairn neatly avoided a direct answer, but responded that a High Commissioner (as in New Zealand) might be the answer.
- Turks and Caicos Islands – it was interesting to hear how the TCI was now governed directly from London due to the Constitution having been suspended following the report into corruption of the public service there. There was a lot of discussion on this issue which was interesting even if not relevant to the Falklands.
- There was a great deal of discussion on the provision of offshore financial services by OT’s, the regulatory framework that needs to be in place, tax haven issues and of course the difficulties of entering this potentially lucrative market. If the Falklands should develop any financial services, it would be very useful to gain from the experience of other OT’s
- Constitutional reviews, Human Rights and good governance issues were discussed, and each OT gave account of how they had moved along since the White Paper of ten years ago. It is clear to me that the Falklands has evolved considerably since then, but the concern I did raise was that many of these legal and social frameworks are desirable but more ideally suited to larger communities. The problem that we face in implementing many such ideals is lack of financial and human resources. Pitcairn with 50 inhabitants and Tristan da Cunha with 350, must find it even harder to comply with modern practice.
- When we were joined by Michael Foster MP – Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Department for International Development (DFID), I mentioned the aspirational Islands Plan and the more practical Economic Development Strategy, and the fact that were unaided by the UK apart form the provision of defence, but that like other countries facing a recession, we had a deficit budget and would need to prepare a strategy to deal with it.
- In the environmental discussion, with Huw Irranca-Davies MP, Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), I mentioned our fishery, the way in which is was input controlled rather than output controlled and also the many ways in which we led the world on bird mitigation measures in the bottom trawl fishery, the pelagic trawl fishery and also the bottom longline fishery.
The discussions taking place over two whole days were lengthy and will be reported in far more detail when official minutes are available.
The final event of the OTCC was an informal meeting with the Foreign Affairs Committee at the House of Commons. In the same way that our Public Accounts Committee is set up to scrutinise public accounts, the FAC is set up to scrutinise the way in which the FCO works. This meeting was called as a follow up to their report into the OTs. Each Territory had the chance to speak to the Committee and voice it’s feelings. This is a useful opportunity to raise issues, and I took advantage of it to update them on progress since the publication of their report, re-iterate a lot of what I had said in the previous OTCC meetings, and also it gave us all a chance to support important issues concerning two other OTs – Ascension Island with their battle to recover taxation due to them from the MoD and St Helena with it’s battle to have an airport built. Both of these two issues received a lot of attention and support throughout this meeting and over the three days, from all of the OTs together.
Following the close of the OTCC, I had three further meetings. One was with Andrew Allen (FCO), in which we went over detail of some of the topics discussed in the OTCC and Forum. Another was with the company that undertake our public relations (Keene PA) – they assist us with press coverage of important events, targeting specialist media for example and generally ensuring that the Falklands message gets put across. I also met with our political PR people (Edelman) who work closely with Sukey on lobbying Parliament and ensuring that we get good political influence where it counts.
I am very grateful to the FCO for hosting and organising this event. It costs the Falkland Islands little more than an airfare to attend it but the rewards are great from it. I would also like to thank the London Office and especially Sukey Cameron whose constant lobbying and contact with people of influence is so important to us in the Falklands. There is a list of the top 100 lobbyists and Sukey is on it, which is a huge achievement. I am especially grateful to Sukey for helping me out with my first OTCC, which she did tremendously well despite difficult family circumstances.
Dick Sawle 14th December 2009
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