UK and OTs agree action plan for year ahead
(CNS): Economic growth, protecting the environment and making government work better were the three main areas identified as priorities by Mark Simmonds, the FCO’s overseas territories minister in a release Wednesday at the end of this year’s Joint Ministerial Council for the UK’s OTs. The meeting between the British government and the leaders of its remaining sixteen territories ended with a joint communiqué which sets out priority issues and what was described as a comprehensive action plan for joint work in the coming year.
“This first meeting of the Joint Ministerial Council has helped us identify an ambitious list of priority areas for action, such as encouraging economic growth; protecting the environment and making government work better,” Mark Simmonds stated in a release from the Foreign Office. “We will work closely with the Territories in the coming year to achieve what we have together set out to do.”
The JMC meeting, which used to be known as the Overseas Territories Council Meeting, was chaired by Minister Simmonds and attended by premiers, chief ministers and other elected representatives from Britain’s overseas territories. It closed Wednesday with a meeting with UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who welcomed them to 10 Downing Street. The FCO said this was the first time that a UK prime minister had met jointly with all the territories' leaders.
“The United Kingdom’s 14 Overseas Territories are an integral part of Britain’s life and history,” David Cameron stated. “This government is ambitious for our territories as we are ambitious for the United Kingdom. We want to see our communities flourish in partnership, with strong and sustainable local economies. We see an important opportunity to set world standards in our stewardship of the extraordinary natural environments we have inherited.”
Simmonds said the White Paper sets out a very positive vision for the overseas territories.
“Many of my ministerial colleagues from across government took part in the Council this week, demonstrating that the UK Government as a whole is committed to supporting the Territories,” he said.
Category: Politics
Wow! they are going to try to get Caymanian leadership to stop doing what they have been and start doing what they have not been doing. Good luck with that. Your going to need it as they will fight, cry, and complain even more than they do now.
It seems that our present Government meet zero out of seven of the Principles of Public Life!
I don't expect any changes in the next five months.
It will be very interesting to see just how important our beloved leader rates the environment after his meetings.Time will tell but in the meantime our environment gets further and further away from most party members.So far very few have said how important this is to our future economic growth.You have ALL been put on notice.
Simmonds sure knows how to annoy McKeeva. Protect the environment, AND observe seven principles in public office. This looks like pure bureaucratic harassment.
At the end of the meeting the Cayman Islands Premier Dr. Dolittle issued a statement saying it was all pure unadulterated bureaucracy by Donkey faced people. Heehaw Heehaw
So all the territories agreed this…Mac cannot say he was railroaded into agreeing this statement, correct?? On the other hand Mac can and frequently does say anything that comes into his pea-like brain, just up to us to sort the BS from what is as plain as the noses on our faces.