MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“Freedom of Gibraltar” for the Royal Navy.

The Royal Navy will be granted the Freedom of the City of Gibraltar as part of the celebrations of the Rock's Tercentenary year in 2004. Gibraltar Chief Minister Peter Caruana made announcement during the official opening of the Gibraltar Heritage Trust exhibition “The Capture of Gibraltar”.

According to the Gibraltar Chronicle, Mr. Caruana emphasised that although all the British armed services had strong links with Gibraltar and the Rock's history was almost the history of the British military taking into account all the various regiments founded locally, it was the Royal Navy which could be traced all the way back to 1704.

Present at the opening was Gibraltar Governor Sir Francis Richards, Government Ministers, Chairman of the Trust Joe Desoisa, and members of the Trust.

Mr. Caruana stressed the celebrations are intended to commemorate all aspects of the Rock's history, "this is actually not a celebration of a military event 300 years ago, but a year-long commemoration and celebration of our political, sovereignty and cultural links with Britain, and just as importantly the enormous, positive, worthwhile and valued effects that these links have had on our development as a people and on the development of Gibraltar as a small country, which we call our homeland."

Further on he said that, "in this way we will all collectively during this period reflect on who we are and why we are who we are. What there has been in our history that has shaped and moulded us, so that we can make sure, not only that we value, know and understand our past, but that we learn from our history and do not make the same mistakes again."